At the Heart of it All
by Manwe Valarian
Summary: This is a love story, but not a happy love story. Both main characters have been scarred both physically and mentally by the battles in their past. Yet, they find that they still love each other even after everything thing they have endured. It is set eight years after the end of Half Blood Prince. This story will have three different parts.
1. Chapter 1

The sun shone brilliantly in the blue sky warming the slight breeze. On this beautiful Saturday in June, people everywhere in England were out enjoying this glorious day. The entire land seemed to be happy, except for a group gathered in a cemetery by Ottery St. Catchpole.

They were all wearing expensive black robes, which slowly moved with the breeze. The people wearing the robes appeared to be the ones that were worn and threadbare. Their bodies were not emaciated or terribly disfigured from age or abuse. Their faces and general demeanor made them seem old beyond their years from a lifetime of losses. Their faces showed remorse for the dead, but only a few shed any tears and the tears that fell were barely noticeable. They all stood in a circle around a fresh grave; quiet and morose like soldiers performing a drill that they disliked. Their faces set and determined. They were watching a middle-aged wizard, with thinning grey hair, cry his heart out, while leaning on the headstone. His left hand lovingly caressed the words, _N. Tonks Lupin_. The black robed observers watched and allowed him time for his personal grief. They had all lost someone dear to them in the not too distant past. Tonks's death was the most recent in a long line of deaths for the Order of the Phoenix.

Tonks's parents stood on the other side of the headstone and held onto each other for support. She was their only child. They had helped the Order defeat Voldemort, but they had since remained to themselves. Her death was a shock to them. They had thought the danger was over.

A tall redheaded man, Ron Weasley, looked around at the rest of the group. His eyes found an old witch with square spectacles and her hair in a tight bun sitting in a wheel chair. The retired Hogwarts nurse, Madam Pomfrey, stood behind her, with her hands resting on the handles of the wheelchair. Professor McGonagall sat there and stared blankly into space. The victim of a Dementor's kiss.

Three months before Voldemort fell, he unleashed all his Death Eaters and dark creatures on the British magical community. He and his Death Eaters attacked the Ministry, while Dementors and giants attacked Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. Ron, Harry, and Hermione wondered if Voldemort realized that they had destroyed his last Horcrux, Nagini, only days before. They had found the snake hunting for food away from its Master. A quick Killing Curse destroyed the last Horcrux. Whether that caused Voldemort to initiate the attack was never confirmed and the exact reason for the all-out assault was irrelevant now.

Professor McGonagall called upon the Order and the Ministry to help repel the attack on the school. The Aurors were too busy to respond. The Order responded, but so much damage had already been done. The giants destroyed half of the village, and Dementors were attacking people at will.

Witnesses told about the Professor sacrificing herself to protect the students. She stayed outside and used her cat Patronus to fend off the Dementors. She was able to keep them at bay for twenty minutes before they overwhelmed her.

The Ron looked at his mother. She lost her husband and two of her sons that fateful day. Arthur, Percy and Charlie Weasley were working at the Ministry the day of the attack. They were found dead, after the Death Eaters retreated. Percy, even after three years, had never completely reconciled with the family before his death. He still maintained that Fudge had the right to say and act as he did. Charlie had quit his job in Romania the year before, to help with the war efforts at home.

Bill was working at Gringotts that day and rushed to the Ministry to help. He survived but lost his right arm to a Severing Curse. His scarred face, from the attack by Fenrir Greyback on the day Dumbledore died, and his other injuries did not stop him from living his life. He was standing across the grave from Ron holding his son's hand with his wife and daughter at his side.

Fleur, hearing of the attack, ran to the Ministry to fight alongside her husband. Ron and others were not sure if she would be willing to fight against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. They felt she was too haughty and self-centered, but she proved them all wrong. She was not afraid to stand in the face of death. The scar on her cheek that she received that day changed her appearance from a pampered princess to that of a warrior queen.

Alastor Moody and Remus Lupin are the only remaining members of the original Order. Hagrid and Aberforth died at the hands and feet of the giants. All the others have lost their lives in various battles and skirmishes with dark wizards, or recently under mysterious circumstances. Elphias Doge was the only Order member who died from old age.

Ron looked at the twins, Fred and George. They appeared to have suffered no damage from the war, but everyone who knew them realized that this wasn't the truth. They have their limbs and lives, but they carried scars on their body and their hearts. The carefree attitude that symbolized them during their teens was rarely seen anymore. They were often serious and even to the point of melancholy. The joke shop they owned in Diagon Alley was still doing great, but away from there, their spirit was more subdued.

Ron, his wife Hermione, and sister Ginny were the same as the twins. Too many dead friends, the deaths were supposed to end with Voldemort's death. They did for a few years, but the last three years the deaths of Aurors and Order members have increased. It seemed that the Death Eaters, or a group very similar to them, had reorganized. There had not been any wide spread attacks against the magical community or Muggles. No one has been leaving Dark Marks in the sky. The deaths had been isolated to Ministry employees and were sporadic in occurrence. The Ministry denied any possibility of a conspiracy or premeditated murders; they have insisted that the deaths were simply hazards associated with the job.

Tonks' death happened during a routine investigation for sales of illegal charms. She went alone, since this type of investigation consisted of buying the charms. She would then determine if they were illegal, before arresting the salesperson. The charm she bought was a Portkey. She was tortured and killed. The Aurors found her two days later in a swampy area on the coast of Wales. She had turned in her request to be relieved of field duty that morning, having just found out she was pregnant.

Ron was the one to find her. The Aurors received an anonymous tip. He still shuddered at the sight of her swollen body and the look of pain on her face, as she lay in the slimy quagmire. As he thought about this, he pulled Hermione closer to him. That could have been him on the assignment.

He was glad that Hermione was teaching at Hogwarts. She would be safer there than anywhere else. The attacks had been isolated to Order members who worked at the Ministry.

The mourners started to stir. Remus was now on his feet and wiping his swollen eyes. Moody walked around the group handing out glasses of Firewhiskey, for a final toast to Tonks. Ron took his and looked into the amber liquid, thinking about how many toasts he made under these circumstances.

"To Tonks," Kingsley said softly.

Ron lifted his glass to his lips along with everyone else. The Firewhiskey burnt as it slid down his throat. With a wave of Moody's wand, all the glasses disappeared. It was time for the final commemoration. Everyone walked forward with practiced precision. They all took a single lily from one of the two urns on each side of the headstone and dropped it onto the grave with a final goodbye to a friend.

Ginny took four other lilies for later. Ron and Hermione followed her as she walked away from the grave. They joined the rest of their family to visit the graves of Percy, Charlie, and their Father's. As he walked with the family, a hand grabbed his shoulder. Turning he saw Kingsley staring at him.

"Can we speak, alone?" asked Kingsley.

Ron stepped away from his family and followed Kingsley to a secluded area of the cemetery. Kingsley stepped close to Ron and stared him in the eye. His words were spoken softly but held authority and determination. "I want you to concentrate on this investigation when you return to the office, tomorrow. I have been told that this case is closed because a Charms Dealer in Diagon Alley was arrested, but I don't believe it. I am going to, somehow, get you some help."

"I'll get on it first thing in the morning, sir," replied Ron quietly.

"Good! Keep this investigation quiet. It is just between you and me. We can't let anyone else know about it," stated Kingsley.

After Kingsley turned and left, Ron went to find the rest of his family. They were at his father's grave. Mrs. Weasley was kneeling on her husband's grave and talking to him as if they were sitting at the dinner table. She was telling him about everything that has happened, since she last visited. She stopped crying about her dead husband several years ago. She told her family that she was not going to be sad around him anymore. He would have wanted her to be happy, so she would only remember the happy times they had together.

After she stood up and hugged her children, Ron and Hermione walked over to Ginny, who still had one lily left.

"I am alright now. The two of you don't need to follow me to Godric's Hollow." Ginny reassured them.

"I know," replied Ron. "It's just – I want to go and see him too. Hermione and I were his best friends." As they walked through the Wards guarding the cemetery, Ron thought to himself. _I owe him. I am the reason he is dead._


	2. The Battle Royale

**A/N: The section in italics is a flashback. In this story Harry isn't a Horcrux.**

Ron, Hermione, and Ginny appeared in a patch of woods by Godric's Hollow. Stepping out from the cover of trees, they walked slowly across a farmer's open pasture towards the cemetery. Ginny and Hermione had smiles on their faces, as they walked through the bucolic landscape. Ron ignored the beauty of the day and wore a scowl on his face. The sound of children playing in the town never registered with him. Nor did the smell of fresh cut grass and flowers, the only thing he had on his mind was Harry Potter and how he failed him.

He didn't notice where they were until the ladies stopped walking. Regaining his bearings, he noticed Ginny kneeling down onto Harry's grave. She pulled at a chain around her neck revealing the engagement ring that Harry had given her a year before his death. They were to be married after he defeated Voldemort.

Ginny stopped wearing the ring two years ago, and made other changes in her life. She now keeps her hair shorter just off her shoulder, because her long hair reminded her of Harry. He used to love to run his fingers through her hair. She decided that she needed to move on and try to live without him. Ginny placed the ring on her finger, a habit she had when visiting him.

Hermione sat down beside Ginny and they began to talk to Harry the same way that Mrs. Weasley talked to her husband.

Ron cannot do this. Harry was the best friend he ever had. They had been through so much together, and saved each other's lives so many times. The thought of this brought the bitter taste of bile to his mouth. How could he have left him defenseless to die that night?

 _Pain shot through every muscle in Ron's body, as he ran through the woods. He had been fighting Death Eaters for nearly four hours now. They had received information about Voldemort's stronghold. The Aurors of the Ministry and the Order of the Phoenix attacked it._

 _That was at sunset, now it was dark and nearly midnight. The night was warm and muggy, and the continuous fighting had fatigued his body. With the fighting, a Cruciatus Curse from Dolohov (until Kingsley finished him), and bleeding wounds, Ron was operating on pure adrenaline._

 _A movement to his right caught his eye. There was a swish of black cloak and a glint of a white skull mask, before a green light was fired in his direction. Ron's reflexes honed by three years of fighting and hunting Horcruxes reacted with lightning speed. He flattened himself out on the ground and hit the Death Eater with a Stunner._

 _Cautiously he approached the body, keeping his wand trained on the person. Seeing their wand lying at their left side, he shot ropes out of his wand and bound the Death Eater from head to foot. Picking up their wand, he snapped it in two._

 _Listening for the sounds of battle, he heard a low moan. Fear gripped him as he threw caution to the wind and ran to the sound. He recognized the moan. It was Hermione. He found her lying between two trees. She was still aware of her surroundings, because she pointed her wand at Ron, when he first appeared._

" _Hermione, where are you hurt?" his voice was strained and he was nearly in tears. "Let me take you back…"_

" _No! Ron you must find and help Harry. He must… We must win," whispered Hermione. She was trying to suppress her pain. "I will be fine. Ron, don't forget all the plans, you have a task to do!"_

" _No, I won't let you die…"_

" _I am not going to. I have two broken legs. I can't heal them here, after it is all over you can take me to Poppy."_

" _All right – Fine – I'll – go, but Disillusion yourself. I will mark a tree so I know where to find you." Leaning down he kissed her then turned and gouged an 'X' in a tree twenty feet to the right of her. "I love you, Granger."_

 _Hermione smiled at him. "I love you too." She tapped herself on the head and disappeared._

 _Ron turned and ran through the woods listening for sounds of battle. He finally heard Harry and Voldemort speaking to each other up ahead. The battle had begun and he needed to get there to complete his task. He picked up his pace pushing his aching legs to keep moving. There was another swish of a cloak to his right, Ron jumped behind a tree, and twisted himself around, so his wand was pointing out from around the tree without exposing his body._

 _Mad-Eye's face was inches from the tip of Ron's wand. The old Auror turned quickly to see the wand pointing at him and Ron holding it. He gave Ron a quick smile of congratulations for a good job. With a quick jerk of his head, Mad- Eye motioned for Ron to follow him towards the battle._

 _They swept through the forest while looking for Death Eaters, as they moved towards the voices of Harry and Voldemort. They met Kingsley, Bill, and Lupin along the way. Reaching a clearing, he saw Harry and Voldemort circling each other, with their wands ready to do battle._

 _Ron stared, but could not see, if Harry had been able to create his shield. He had been studying and training for this day, for three years. He knew he could not learn as much magic as Voldemort, in that time, so he was relying on determination and a barrage of basic spells. Hermione came across a special shield that could be generated with an incantation. It worked as an Anti-Apparation Shield and a physical barrier that a person could not walk through. It was originally used in duels to the death in medieval times. Harry had successfully generated the shield two years ago, and spent many hours dueling one or more people while keeping the shield up._

 _If it was formed, than either Harry or Voldemort would have to die for it to come down. Ron had all the confidence in Harry. Ever since his seventeenth birthday, his powers have been growing. His ability to perform nonverbal Magic was incredible. He could fire Hexes and Curses so fast that at times it seemed like one continuous Curse that changed colors._

" _Do you really think you can defeat me, Potter," sneered Voldemort._

" _Yes, Tom, I do."_

" _What are you going to do Stun me? Give me Jelly-Legs…" Voldemort laughed his grating high-pitched laugh. "You can't kill me. I am immortal."_

" _You used to be. Your Horcruxes are gone. I and my friends have found and destroyed all of them." As Harry said that, Voldemort narrowed his eyes. Everything about him appeared to be pure hatred. "You are mortal …"_

" _How do you know that I didn't create more of them?" hissed Voldemort. Harry didn't answer right away. Voldemort noticed his hesitation and started to laugh._

" _Eight isn't a powerful magical number, and if you split your soul any more you would turn completely into a snake," responded Harry. "Even if you did I'm still going to try to kill you, Tom."_

" _Stop calling me that!" His voice was a high-pitched screech. "Avada Kedavra!"_

 _Harry ducked out of the way of the Killing Curse, and started to fire Curses at Voldemort. The shield was in place and it created a fantastic display. Every time a Curse would hit the shield, it would absorb the Curse and would suddenly turn the color of the Curse. The Killing Curse would be partially absorbed and create a four-foot patch of green before passing through and hitting the ground or an object outside._

 _Ron crept down by the shield hiding behind trees. He was cautious of the Killing Curses, which kept flying through the shield. Through the kaleidoscope of colours that appeared on the shield, Ron saw that Harry was holding his ground and firing Killing Curses at Voldemort. The Shield was holding up. It allowed enough room for Harry to move around and avoid Voldemort's Curses._

 _The plan was working. The close proximity and his ability to rapid-fire Curses had Voldemort on the defensive more than the offensive. He was too busy blocking and avoiding Harry's Curses to draw on his vast knowledge of complex spells. Looking around at the other people watching, Ron saw the awe reflected on their faces._

 _Raising his wand and pointing it at the two combatants, Ron tightened his grip. If Harry dies and the shield falls, Ron must kill Voldemort. Harry knew that he might die tonight. He accepted that risk without hesitation. The rest of the Order members also raised their wands. They either were following Ron's example or realized that they may need to finish the job for Harry._

 _The trio had also theorized that Voldemort would change wands. He would not want a repeat of the cemetery, at Little Hangleton. He failed to kill Harry because of their same cores. Their Spells had collided on several occasions tonight, but their cores never connected._

 _The battle raged on, Ron looked on in amazement at his friend's ability to keep fighting. He has been fighting as long as Ron, but he still was not showing signs of fatigue. Looking through the haze of spells, he could see that both wizards were sweating and bleeding from the exertion and Curses. The strain of casting Curse after Curse can exhaust a wizard, but to add all the movement that Harry's been doing. It was amazing he was still standing._

 _Harry scored the first direct hit with a Bludgeoning Curse. It drove Voldemort ten feet into the shield wall. Before Harry could fire a Killing Curse, Voldemort moved. The Curse passed close enough to him that it caught his robes on fire. Turning, Voldemort fired a Nonverbal Curse into the ground between Harry and himself. The ground exploded and shot Harry against the wall nearest to Ron._

 _The area under the Shield filled with dirt and dust. Ron couldn't see clearly what was going on, but he saw green Curse after green Curse being fired towards the spot where Harry had once been. As long as the Shield is up, Harry was alive. The curses stopped, and the dust quickly settled._

 _What Ron saw shocked him. Harry was holding Voldemort's wand hand and had plunged his own wand into Voldemort's chest right through his black heart. The wand had passed through his chest and was sticking out his back. They were standing staring into each other's eyes._

" _You have destroyed my body, Potter." His voice was a wheezy hiss. "So I'll take yours instead."_

 _Voldemort's eyes become large and it looked as if a red haze was passing between the two men. Harry let go of his wand and Voldemort's wrist allowing his lifeless body to crash to the ground. Harry stood there shaking while trying to fight being possessed._

" _You can't have me, Tom. You couldn't possess me in the Ministry, and you won't be able to do it now." Harry's arms and legs quivered as he fought Voldemort. His voice sounded distant. His eyes turn reddish for a split second, before returning to their original emerald shade._

" _You underestimate my powers, Harry. I didn't possess you, because it wasn't necessary. Now I must to live. As you know I will suffer anything to keep from dying." Harry's mouth moved as these words came out, but it was Voldemort's voice._

 _Harry took control of his body again. "You can't drive me out, Tom. You must deal with my weaknesses. You think loving someone is a sign of weakness. You're wrong! A person must be strong to love. You don't know pain until you have lost someone you love! Like Sirius!" Harry shouted his name. A loud hissing scream pierced Ron's ears and Harry's eyes flashed from red to green as he fell to his knees._

 _Harry forced himself to stand up. "Dumbledore!" The scream seemed to be louder and Harry's body was almost convulsing, as he fell again to his knees._

" _My – my parents, Tom. You killed my parents." Harry was shaking so violently that his voice quivered and forming words were difficult. The screaming hurt Ron's ears but Voldemort would not leave Harry's body._

" _You are the weak one. You are so afraid of death. You only fear it because there is nothing in this world you would be willing to sacrifice your life for. I – have – Ginny."_

 _Harry fell onto the ground and the piercing screech became so loud, that Ron thought his ears might bleed, but he kept his wand pointed at Harry._

 _As Harry lay there on the ground, a red mist appeared around his face then it seemed to grow and envelope the rest of his body. As it rose, the screaming stopped and was replaced by pleading, "No, please no!" The mist started spiraling into a vortex and disappeared. The pleading stopped when the mist disappeared._

 _Ron looked on in amazement. Everyone else stared gaped mouth at what just happened. Ron walked forward, with his wand raised to the edge of the shield. He touched it. It was still up._

 _Harry started moving by this time. He pushed himself up from the ground. His legs could barely hold his weight. Looking around he saw Ron pointing his wand at him. Ron could feel everyone else staring at him. They were probably wondering what he was doing._

 _Harry, Ron, and Hermione considered the possibility that Voldemort would possess Harry to avoid dying. They had a phrase that Harry was to say. If he did not say it, than Ron or Hermione were to kill him._

" _Weasley! What the hell are you doing?" shouted Moody._

" _Harry, what's the password," asked Ron, his hand was shaking on his wand. "Say it, Harry."_

 _The shield suddenly dropped. Harry walked up to Ron and stood at the tip of his wand. "Kill Me! Kill me, Ron! I would rather die than allow Voldemort to live."_

 _The Order members all stared at the two of them. Ron smiled before lowering his wand. He pulled Harry into a bone-crushing hug like his mothers. "You did it, Mate!"He had to fight back tears as he hugged his best mate. It seemed like all his life had been spent fighting Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Voldemort was now dead and the Death Eaters had been decimated. It was finally time to live a life, instead of just existing to fight another day. It was all because his best mate had just defeated the most dangerous Dark Wizard in a hundred years._

 _The rest of the Order and various Aurors came over to congratulate Harry. Moody was livid at what had transpired between Ron and Harry._

" _Weasley, I almost Cursed you," he growled at Ron. "Why did you pick that password?"_

 _Harry laughed, "It is the one thing Voldemort would never say. He is too afraid of dying"_

 _Harry looked around for Hermione, before turning to Ron and asking with a pleading voice, "Where's Hermione, Ron, please…"_

" _It's alright, Harry, she is hurt, two broken legs, but she will be fine. Let me get you back to Grimmauld Place, then I'll come back to get her."_

" _No, I'll be fine. I need a few minutes of rest, than I can Apparate back." Harry grabbed Ron's shoulders and looked into his eyes. "It's over, mate. It is finally over."_

[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]

 _Ron appeared in the Apparation Zone of Grimmauld Place. It had been set up as a field hospital for the Order. Madam Pomfrey was triaging the injured; treating the ones she could and transferring the others to St. Mungos._

 _The House was filled with injured wizards and witches. Ron carried the unconscious Hermione to an open camp bed. She passed out from the pain of her broken legs during Apparation._

 _Standing by the bed, he looked for Madam Pomfrey. Seeing her, he waved his hand to get her attention. Before she could arrive, a streak of red hair collided with his chest nearly knocking the wind out of him._

 _Ginny wrapped her arms tightly around him and talked into his chest, "I'm so glad you are alright."_

 _Pulling away from him, she saw Hermione on the bed. She turned and gave Ron a scared questioning look._

" _Broken Legs! She passed out from the pain when I Apparated" He gently grabbed Ginny by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. "It's over, Ginny. Harry defeated Voldemort. It is over!"_

 _Ginny stood still biting her lip for a second. "Is he…"_

" _Harry is fine. He will be here shortly. He was too exhausted to Apparate. He wanted to rest for a few minutes." Ron had to shout the last few words because news of Voldemort's defeat was spreading throughout the house and people were shouting with joy._

" _I'll go and wait for him!" Ginny hugged and kissed her brother and took off at a run for the Apparation Zone._

 _Ron stayed with Hermione as Madam Pomfrey attended to her broken legs. She woke her, cast a spell to set them, and then gave her a dose of Skelo-Grow. Ron nearly split his sides laughing at Hermione's face as she drank the disgusting Potion._

 _The celebration in the house was getting extremely loud, but Ron didn't care. He sat down and held Hermione's hand. The thoughts of finally finishing this nearly impossible task and their future together were all he had on his mind._

" _Hey!" Ron felt a tug on his shoulder. Ginny was standing there. Her forehead was creased and her eyes were filled with worry. "I thought you said Harry would be here in five minutes."_

" _How long has it been?"_

" _Ten! I want to go get him. Take me to him, Ron, please!" Ron looked at Hermione who nodded to him. He could tell she was concerned about Harry too._

 _The walk to the Apparation Zone was mayhem. People were walking around with Butterbeers, Firewhiskey, and Elf-made Wine. Even the injured were standing and celebrating. Madam Pomfrey had her assistants running around trying to control the crowd but to no avail._

 _Ron and Ginny reached the Apparation Zone, as two wizards appeared each holding a crate filled with various liquid refreshments. Ron took Ginny's hand to guide her, and with a nod they both Disapparated._

 _The instant they reappeared Ron thought he had landed in the wrong location. The heat of the raging fire singed his hair and eyebrows. He pulled Ginny down onto the ground to escape from the smoke and flame. Looking around he was sure that he was in the exact location that he left Harry._

 _Ron saw in the flames a Fiendfyre in the shape of a Chimeara moving through the forest. Ginny suddenly stood up and started to run. Ron grabbed her and pulled her down to the ground. The heat was so intense that her face was starting to blister, and her long hair was burning, as the wind whipped flames danced around them._

 _Ginny laid on the ground and started to cry. She looked at Ron and pointed to a spot to their right. Straining to see through burning eyes, Ron looked at a smoldering skeleton lying by the base of the burning tree where he had left him. On the skull were the remnants of glasses deformed by the heat. His friend, Harry Potter had burnt to death._

"Ron!"

Shaking his head to rid himself of those terrible thoughts, he came back to the present. Hermione and Ginny were staring at him. They both had looks of concern on their face.

"It wasn't your fault," reassured Ginny. "Everyone left him there. Kingsley took Voldemort's body to the Ministry. Bill left to find Fleur. Mad-eye went – who knows where. They all thought he was safe. It wasn't your fault Harry died."


	3. Returning to Work

Ron appeared, with a pop, in the Atrium of the Ministry. He immediately stepped forward and walked with determination towards the lifts. No one was there to notice him, except the night shift maintenance workers. It was still six o'clock in the morning. Most people would not show up until eight-thirty. He should be able to get two and a half hours of work done before anyone comes in to disturb him.

The thoughts of Tonks' death filled his head as he blindly moved through the Ministry building. He had stepped into his cubicle without noticing anything but what was in front of his nose. He rarely came in this early. He has never been a morning person, but today he wanted an early start.

Pulling out fresh parchment and inking his quill, he started making notes of what he knew about her murder. As he jotted down ideas, a question caused him to pause. How would someone know it was Tonks? She was a Metamorphagus, and usually changed her appearance on assignments.

He scratched this idea and others that occurred to him on the parchment. The most puzzling questions he needed to address were, why was someone doing this, and why did they notify the Ministry to let them know where her body was.

Two hours later, as other Aurors entered the office, they were greeted by the sight of Ron buried in a pile of folders and parchment. He had gathered all the information that the department had on Tonks' death. Since it occurred three days ago, there wasn't very much. He also started to review the other murders, or as the Ministry called them unfortunate events, looking for connections.

He was on his fourth sheet of parchment and so engrossed in the process that he didn't notice anyone else in the room. The cubicles in the Aurors department were half-empty whenever everyone was there. The ones by his were unoccupied now. When he was concentrating on the work at his desk, he couldn't see anyone else in the department.

Tonks was the last person to have a desk by him. Ever since the fall of Voldemort and the appointment of the new Minister of Magic, Dagmar Selwyn, the Auror department has been in decline. The Minister believed there was no reason to employ Aurors to apprehend Dark Wizards now, and the salaries they received could be used for other departments and other rebuilding projects.

Kingsley Shacklebolt had been elected the acting Minister of Magic after Voldemort had personally killed then Minister Scrimgouer during the attack on the Ministry. After Voldemort fell and many of his Death Eaters went to jail, the Ministry found themselves in financial of the Death Eaters were wealthy purebloods, when they were convicted and sent to Azkaban, the Ministry lost a large portion of its tax revenue. The entire Ministry had been scraping the bottom of its coffers to make all the salaries and pay the bills.

After a year of these problems Kingsley had proposed to "fine" the convicted Death Eaters and use that gold to help pay for the destruction that they had caused. He made this proposition to the Wizengamot. Two weeks later, they fired Kingsley and elected a new Minister.

Minister Selwyn, was chosen for his business savvy. He was from a pureblood family, and extremely well respected in the business new Minister's solution was to cut jobs, and refuse to hire replacements for the ones that quit, retired, or died. The department that had been hit the hardest was the Magical Law Enforcement department. The total number of employees was less than half of what it was before Voldemort's defeat. A Department of Commerce and Finance was created and staffed though. The reasoning behind this was that if the community's financial situation improved than the tax base would increase, and the Ministry's financial problems would abate.

High-level politics never interested Ron nor did financial woes. He was so used to being poor during his childhood, that all the concern people had seemed like a lot of whining. He was only concerned about another Voldemort rising to power. In his mind, the Minister was an idiot. However, many people liked him, so he keeps his mouth shut and does what he can to prepare for another Dark Lord.

Ron was reading over his notes and did not notice Kingsley approaching him.

"When did you get here, Ron," inquired Kingsley. "I didn't see you come in this morning."

"What, I –um- I was here at six," replied a surprised Ron. "Wanted to get some work done, before anyone else came in and disturbed me."

"Any progress?" The head Auror pulled up a chair and sat down beside him. He was close enough that they could whisper without being overheard.

"No, nothing yet. Just the obvious. The murders, oh, unfortunate accidents…" Ron's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Hold the cheek, Weasley. You know my feelings," whispered Kingsley.

"Sorry, the people were always sent out alone on some simple case. It seems that they were being set up."

Kingsley gave Ron a stern look. "Watch shouting about conspiracy from within the Ministry, Ron. Unless you have absolute proof. The Minister is looking for…."

"What is he looking for," inquired Ron, at Kingsley's sudden silence.

Kingsley stared at him for a moment before he picked up several pieces of parchment and stared at them as though he was reading them. He started talking without looking at Ron. "The Minister wants to abolish the Magical Law Enforcement Department, and contract out the enforcement to independent contractors."

"What! That's…" Ron spat in disgust, but Kingsley shifted his eyes off the parchement and glared at him to tell him to be quiet. Ron swallowed the rest of his comment when he saw Kingsley's dark drown eyes glaring at him.

"There would be a couple of employee's to inform the contractors of who to arrest. The ministry would only pay when the person was apprehended. He seems to think all this time we spend here is a waste of money."

"But without someone doing the investigation how will they know who to arrest?"

"Exactly," responded Kingsley.

"I never heard of such a thing. Where did he ever get such an idea?"

Kingsley sighed. "The Americans have a branch like that. They are called Covert Ops. My cousin runs the Magical Law Division of the USMG. He has told me about the Covert Ops. They are called in only for the most extreme cases; the high risk ones, where if suspect ends up dead, no one will care."

Ron swallowed hard at the implications. "Sounds like they are sanctioned murderers."

"Maybe, but they only are used on a small percentage of the cases, not all of them; like our Minister is proposing to the Wizengamot. We need to be careful, because Minister Selwyn is looking for any reason to shut this Department down. Come to my office. I have more help for you on this case."

"I thought there was a hiring freeze on," questioned Ron, as he took all his papers and locked them in his desk. He fell in behind Kingsley, as they walked to his office. Ron stopped just inside of the doorway. It felt as though his head would explode from the blood rushing to it, as his anger rose. There sitting in Kingsley's office was Hermione and Ginny.

"NO," shouted Ron. "They are not allowed to…"

Hermione stood up and pulled Ron inside of the office and closed the door behind him. "Ronald, sit down and shut up!"

"No, Kingsley how could you recruit …."

"He didn't. Ginny and I volunteered." Hermione was standing with her nose nearly touching Ron's and they were staring at each other with fire in their eyes.

"You will just unvoluteer. I will not allow you to put yourself in danger," shouted a redfaced Ron.

"What, you want me to wait at home until you go out and get yourself killed." Ron stepped back as Hermione shouted at him. "Is that what you want? I am not going to do that. I am going to help however I can." Her voice had softened now. She looked at him with pleading in her eyes. "Please, I want to help. I don't want to be a widow."

Ron's anger had eased, at the mention of Hermione being a widow. "What about your teaching jobs? How are you going to keep them?"

"We are going to keep teaching," stated Ginny. "We can come here on Sundays until holiday and go over the cases with you. It might help to get a fresh perspective, and don't tell us we don't know what we are doing."

Ron looked at his sister and his wife for a second before speaking, "Only on Sundays."

They nodded, but Ginny added. "Holiday is only three weeks away."

Ron grimaced but he could tell this was one of those arguments that he was going to lose anyway. "Alright then I think that should be workable."

"Well I'm glad you decided to accept our offer. I would have hated to embarrass you in front if your coworkers by cursing you into submission." Ginny had an evil smile on her face.

Hermione kissed Ron goodbye, "I need to Floo to Hogwarts. I have a class in fifteen minutes. See you Sunday." With a wave, she and Ginny left for the Floo network in the Atrium.


	4. The Investigation

"Are you sure this is the exact location," asked Hermione. She was looking at the spot where Ron found Tonks' body.

"Yes, for the fourth time! She was laying, right there, facing this direction." Ron waved his arms around to further demonstrate what he was saying. "Her left side was stuck in the mud, as you can see by the depression there," he grumped.

They were standing, in a small valley, by Bull Bay, on the island of Anglesy in Wales. The place that Tonks' body was found was a marshy spot in the lowest section of a valley. It wasn't an actual swamp, but an area where water would collect and stand for days after it rained. The hills around the spot were several meters high. The valley was closed on three sides by these hills and the fourth side opened towards the Irish Sea. There was still about a half-mile between the marsh and the sea. The swampy area was filled with tall grasses that could grow in the muddy conditions. At the present time, the ground was almost firm, because it hadn't rained in several days. The ground showed a partially washed-out imprint of Tonks' body and also the foot prints of all the people who had been walking around investigating her death.

Ginny had walked away from Ron and Hermione to look for clues at the other side of the swamp towards the open end of the valley. Hermione questioned Ron on what he saw when he first came upon the scene, and about the subsequent investigation of the crime. They were walking around so Ron could point out as much detail as possible. They continued to walk, as Hermione asked questions. Eventually she stopped asking and looked around the valley to find a place to sit.

"Well, Ron, I am going over to that willow tree and start copying your notes," stated Hermione. She looked at Ron funny, because he snorted when she had said that. "What is so funny," she snapped at him.

He smiled at her. "I never thought I would see the day when Hermione-the-insufferable-know-it-all would be copying my notes.

She glared at him and smacked him on the shoulder with her heavy folder. She tried not to smile, but she couldn't help it. She walked over to the tree with her head down trying to suppress a laugh.

She started copying notes that he had compiled at the office. She submerged herself in the process of reading and rewriting many of the things he had written, instead of magically duplicating them. The process helped her memorize and theorize about the cases.

She couldn't keep herself from smiling at his notes. They were almost perfect, except for the handwriting. He had done background research on all the cases, often times consulting previous cases and talking to experts. The entire time Ron was in school he was happy to get a passing grade. He didn't care for the school system, classes, and professors. Now he takes a great deal of pride in his job, and it shows in the amount of work and research he puts into his investigations, starting with his note taking.

Hermione would stop occasionally and look carefully over the notes. She became particularly engrossed with who died and when.

Hestia Jones was the first, if you don't want to count Mundungus Fletcher. She died a year and a half ago investigating a report of illegal breeding of controlled species. She was found half-eaten east of Grimsby.

Dung was found in an alley of London. He was killed apparently with the Killing Curse, because there were no apparent signs of damage on his body. That was four years ago, and many people attributed it to the type of people he associated with. Although Ron had other ideas about who might have killed him.

Sturgis Podmore was found a year ago east of Cheltenham and in the hills south Winchcombe. He was answering a report of Muggle baiting. He died from the Killing Curse.

Dedalus Diggle died six months ago. He was investigating a report of someone growing a Venemous Tentacular in a Muggle inhabited area. He was found with over three hundred bites on his body. His body was located south of Northhampton and northwest of Milton Keys.

As Hermione was writing all this down, the wind blew a lock of her hair across her face. She nonchalantly pushed it behind her ear with her left hand. Again, the same lock of hair floated across her face on the breeze. She became a little annoyed at the stray lock of her hair. She roughly shoved it behind her ear. Within a second or two, it floated across her face again. When she went to shove it behind her ear, she noticed that the wind was blowing another direction. She snapped her head up to see her husband trying to suppress a laugh.

"You prat," she huffed. She wasn't really angry, just annoyed at him. "We are supposed to be finding clues today."

He knelt down and pushed that same lock of hair behind her ear. "I just wanted to – ah – to say…" Ron seemed to have lost his nerve at that minute. 

"What's wrong, Ron."

Ron looked tongue-tied. He was looking everywhere, but at her. She thought he had gotten over that, but here he was stumbling all over himself. He fumbled with a pleat in his robes. He let go of the pleat, took a deep breath, and stared at her before speaking. "I wanted you to know that if anything happens to me. That-that you marrying me has made my life complete, and I hope I've made you half as happy as I have…"

Hermione couldn't help herself. She grabbed him and attacked his lips. Hearing him talk like this scared her. The possibility of Ron dying was very high and she wasn't sure how she would be able to deal with life without him. Over the past six years of marriage he had become her rock, her refuge, a place where she feels safe from the world in his arms. The snog became more passionate as all thoughts of the investigation were pushed from her mind.

Ron suddenly pulled away from her. They were now sitting on the ground with her practically sitting on his lap. She hadn't realized anything around them, until he pulled away.

"Sorry," said Ginny. "I was hungry. It is noon."

Hermione suddenly realized that Ginny was there also. She turned and seperated herself from Ron, and tried to compose herself. She saw that Ron was also a little out of sorts. Ginny had grabbed a couple of sandwiches and a pitcher of Pumpkin juice that they brought from Hogwarts. She started to walk away from them.

"Where are you going?" asked Hermione.

"I thought that I should give you some room." She sounded tired and defeated.

Hermione felt terrible. There had been times when she had been with Ginny and Harry while Ron was out on assignment. It was always so awkward with them when they were romantic. "I thought we could talk some about the case, Ginny. Why don't you sit down so we can discuss it easier," she suggested. Ron grunted his agreement.

Ginny turned back and sat down, but she didn't look directly at them. She poured herself some Pumpkin juice and took a bite of a sandwich without saying a word. Ron grabbed a couple of sandwiches for himself and also poured himself a glass of Pumpkin juice, before settling down on the grass.

Hermione glared at her husband for a second, but realized that somethings will never change, so she stood up and got her own lunch. "I have been looking over the cases and I haven't noticed any great similarities between them except that the victims had all been on assignments alone. Are these the only cases where Ministry officials have died in the line of duty recently?"

"No there have been others; Hit-wizards and Aurors have also died," stated Ron.

"Why aren't they recorded down here?"

"I wasn't sure if you wanted to know about them."

She gave him a look as though he was thick not including them. Ginny snorted her pumpkin juice at the same time. Ron shifted on the ground before finally speaking again. The only case he had time to check on was Archibald Savage. He was answering the report that Unforgivable Curses were being used between Stamford and Peterborough.

There had also been several Hit-Wizards killed in the line of Duty. Ron did not know the particulars of the deaths except they all were answering the call alone, just as the Aurors and the Order members. "That is why I think someone in the Ministry is involved. The victims were going out on cases all alone," insisted Ron.

"Yes, that is true, but could there have been other cases that the attackers didn't pursue because the targets were not alone?" responded Hermione, in her Professor's voice. Ron's face flushed with anger for a second before he realized that she had a valid point. Ginny had not said a word during this entire time, but sat and looked over the scene and out to the Irish Sea. Hermione and Ron looked at her for a few seconds. They could tell she was deep in thought about something.

"What do you think, Ginny," asked Hermione.

Ginny stopped eating and didn't even look at them when she spoke. "I think I am going to resign as the Defense Against the Darks Arts Professor and become an Auror."

"You what?" asked a shocked Hermione.

Ron snorted at her statement. "That won't happen," he stated harshly.

Ginny finally turned to face them, glaring at Ron. "And why Not?"

"Because there is a hiring freeze…"

"I'll use my influence," snapped Ginny.

"And because…" he stopped talking and stared out at the place where he found Tonks' body. He sat like this not saying anything for a time.

"Why Ron, why can't she become an Auror," demanded Hermione. There was definitely something else he wasn't telling them.

Ron turned back and stared at her and then Ginny, before speaking. "You can't repeat this. All right?" When they both finally agreed, he continued. "Kingsley told me that Dagmar wants to abolish the Law Enforcement Department and contract it out."

"WHAT!" shouted the other two.

"How is that possible," started Hermione. "He can't do that. Who will control the Dark Wizards? Who will ensure people's rights aren't being abused? Where did he ever get such a stupid and irresponsible idea?"

"The Americans have a division called Covert Ops. They operate like that. Kingsely's cousin is the Head of the Magical Law Enforcement Department, and he told me that they use these people only for the most dangerous cases; the ones where no one will care if the wizard ends up dead."

"My question," interjected Ginny. "Where will he get these people?"

They all looked at each other for some time. Hermione was shocked by what she heard, but she did what she knows and wrote a note to research this Covert Ops group.

"It didn't happen here," Ginny said quietly. The sudden change of subject caught Hermione and Ron off guard. "There are no scorch marks or footprints besides the Aurors. Tonks was buried in the mud. Her imprint wasn't messy. She didn't thrash around before she died, yet it appeared as though she had been tortured. She was killed someplace else and – I am guessing – dropped here from a broom." She finished saying this and kept staring out over the scene. Her expression was strangely subdued and she spoke as calmly as she would in front of her class.

"Ginny, it was pretty swampy and wet here when I arrived," responded Ron. "She had been missing for two days before that." Ron stopped talking and thought over what he said. He continued talking in a whisper to himself, "That doesn't account for no other tracks, since ours are still here. There would be scorch marks from spells. Tonks had her wand when she was Portkeyed. She would have put up a fight." His voice faded as he spoke until he couldn't even hear himself.

Ron and Hermione looked at Ginny then back out over the swampy area. They were both deep in thought about what Ginny said. Ron stood up and walked around as though it might give him a better perspective and Hermione started to scribble rapidly on the piece of parchment.

"I think you are correct, Ginny," confirmed Hermione. "Now the 10,000 galleon question. Why would they do that?"

"Ambush!" Ginny replied.

"Ambush? You just stated that she wasn't attacked here…"

Ginny cut off Hermione, "Not Tonks! Whoever came to investigate was going to be attacked." Hermione and Ron looked at each other. He had been the first on the scene, but Mad-eye and Dawlish showed up within minutes. "This little valley is perfect to ambush someone. They could hide among those trees at the upper edges and shoot curses down on anyone near her body. The victim wouldn't stand a chance, in a crossfire of curses like that."

Hermione also stood up and looked around them. She had not noticed the configuration of the terrain, how easy it would be to hide and attack someone even in broad daylight. She picked up Ron's and her notes and started to look through them frantically. "Ron, Ginny, while I reread these notes of the other deaths, would you mind looking around the ridges for signs of anyone camping or sitting for extended periods up there?"

She sat back down and started to study, while the other two walked to the ridges of the valley. While the floor of the valley was marshy and covered with coarse long grasses, the sides and ridges had scrub pine and twisted little trees covering them. They were not very large most were less than fifteen feet, because the ground was too hard and rocky for their roots to gain purchase. The largest tree in the area was the willow they had been sitting under, and it grew at the edge of the swampy area.

Hermione was absorbed in her studies and lost track of time. The sound of Ron shouting " _Protego_ ", brought her nose out of the parchments. He was up to her right and Ginny came running down the other ridge, before Apparating to the edge of the trees where Ron was fighting. Hermione had by this time collected everything and stuffed it into her magic handbag and Apparated bedside Ginny.

" _Confrigo_!" echoed his voice again, which was followed by a loud boom and several people shouting in pain. " _Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy!"_ Ron was involved in a battle. They had started walking into the trees, when Ron appeared from behind one. "Get out of here! Both of you! I'll keep them preoccupied while you Apparate. I'll meet you at the Hogs Head. Go!" Ron said this in as loud of a whisper as he could then disappeared into the trees again.

Ginny looking at Hermione traded looks that they should follow Ron's orders. Ginny Apparated, followed by Hermione a second later. The sound of Ron battling wizards was still echoing from the trees.

Hermione appeared in the alley besides the inn. Ginny was already there waiting for her. She dropped her handbag onto the ground and tightened the grip on her wand. "I'm giving him five seconds, before I go back," she stated.

Ginny stood there with her wand ready. "You won't be alone."

They had reached four in their heads when a loud crack was heard beside them. Reflex action took over as they pointed their wands at Ron. He looked at them and smiled for a second before Hermione leapt at him and covered his lips with hers. She clung onto him, holding him tight and melting into his arms. The thoughts of losing him have been weighing heavily on her lately. They have been close to death many times in their young lives, but that doesn't make the fear of loss any less. It actually seems to make each minute that they are together even more precious. She knows all to well how quickly you can lose someone you love.

She relaxed her grip on him and pulled her lips away. They stood there in the alley with their foreheads touching not saying a word to each other. They know each other so well that words would seem trite. Fourteen years of fighting Dark Wizards side by side gave them the ability to understand each other's thoughts. They still have their fights on a regular basis, but the love and respect they have towards each other is unmistakable.

"Hey there stranger," Hermione lifted her head up and looked Ron in the eye. "You want to have a drink?"

"Yeah, that sounds great, but I must warn you I am a married man," chuckled Ron.

"And a cheeky one at that! Isn't that right, Ginny." Hermione looked around and noticed that she had left the alley. Guilt shot through her. It still hurt Ginny to see the two of them together and happy like this. Harry's death was still affecting her. Hermione realized that if Ron had died she would probably feel the same as Ginny. Even with those thoughts running through her mind, she pulled Ron into another long passionate kiss, before going into the pub.


	5. How Dare You!

Hermione sat behind the desk in her private quarters at Hogwarts grading end of term exams. It was eight-thirty and she was nearly finished with all the exams that her students took today. She was as efficient at being a teacher, as she was a student. Her desk was a moderate sized oak desk. Devoid of carvings or scrollwork, it was an efficient place to work. Her living quarters were also efficient. Some people would even say they were austere, but she loved them. Her two favorite teachers had once lived in these quarters: Professor Albus Dumbledore and Professor Minerva McGonagall.

Her study/sitting room was cozy to the point of being cramped. Her desk sat by the fireplace facing the rest of the room. The entrance was to her left and the desk was pushed against the stone wall that was on her right. This configuration allowed five or six feet of space between her desk and the entrance door. The walls of the room were three-quarters filled with bookshelves and this large amount of storage space still wasn't enough for Hermione's collection. A large overstuffed winged-back chair sat on the opposite side of the fireplace. An ottoman sat in front of it and a small table stacked with books beside it. The chair was Hermione's inner sanctum at nights after dealing with students all day. A settee sat facing the fireplace. It was eight feet away from the desk and chair creating a little triangle of furniture. Books were also stacked on the floor at each end of it. Her bed and loo was accessable through a door at the other end of the room from where she sat. Two long and narrow windows were located on each side of the fireplace. They allowed natural light to enter the room through their coarse amber leaded glass panes.

Sitting her quill down Hermione rubbed her temples tying to relax and unwind after grading first and sixth year exams. At times, she couldn't tell which students were more clueless. She had always ridiculed Ron and Harry for being poor students, now she has found a new appreciation for their own studying abilities. She always had high standards when it came to school, but she never realized how much higher than normal she was. At least compared to the students she's presently teaching. She wasn't concerned that her teaching was substandard. Her students have OWL and NEWT scores comparable to Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore's students.

As she sat there with her eyes closed, something tapped on the window closest to her desk. She opened her sore eyes and saw Ajax, her and Ron's owl, sitting on the ledge outside of the window. Curious about why Ron would be Owling her, she quickly stood up and gently opened the window. It turned on its center axis so Ajax could walk in off the outside sill without first being knocked off it. Her owl hopped inside and with a single beat of its wings landed on her shoulder. She removed the note from his leg. "I don't have any treats for you Ajax. Why don't you fly to the owlery, because I have no place for you to stay in here," whispered Hermione to her owl. The owl flew out of the window, and kept flying straight to London, instead of turning towards the Owlery.

Hermione sat behind her desk and read Ron's note. After reading the note once, she furrowed her brow and read it again. She a look of disbelief was etched on her face. She folded the note, walked over to the fire, and burned it. Her eyes were brimming with tears as she sat down in her comfortable chair. Unlike most other nights, she didn't pick up a book to read, but sat there and stared blankly into the fire.

A knock on the door snapped her out of her thoughts. She rose and walked to the door and opened it to find Ginny standing.

"Well, Hermione, are you going to invite me in?" questioned Ginny. She had a playful smile on her face until she saw the look on Hermione's face. "What is wrong with you? No one else died have they?" Ginny asked as she walked pass Hermione and sat down with a thump onto the settee.

"No, no one has died. It is – well it's just…" Hermione stopped talking as she crossed to her chair again. "I am tired from grading papers all day."

"Oh? Is it really that painful to read so many substandard responses to the questions?" jokingly asked Ginny. Her mood was light and happy, as she kicked off her shoes and curled her legs up under her on the couch. "I came over here to talk to you about the cases we are working on."

Ginny paused waiting for Hermione to get out her notes, but she just sat there as though she never heard a thing Ginny said. "Hello, earth calling Hermione Weasley. Are you in there?" Ginny leaned forward and waved her hand in the direction that Hermione's eyes were pointing.

"I'm sorry Ginny. I was really deep in thought there for a second," replied Hermione hesitantly. "I was wondering…um… where you went yesterday when we got back from Bull Bay?"

Ginny's happy mood quickly changed to somber. "Why?"

"I was just wondering if you went anywhere else except Hogwarts. I didn't see you in the Great Hall for dinner or any place afterwards."

"I went back to my room and spent the night there," said Ginny angrily. "What? Wasn't I permitted to do that?"

"You did?" Hermione's response was a little too sharp and accusing than she had intended it to be. Ginny seemed to be genuinely hurt at the sound of those two words.

"Come now Hermione, give it to me straight! What are you trying to get out of me," Ginny waspishly snapped at her.

She was trapped there was no way to talk around Ginny now. She had no choice but to be direct. "Did you go see Draco last night?"

"What if I did?" Ginny's feet came out from under her and she leaned forward on the settee gripping the armrest with all her might. "I am of age! I can do what I want. I don't need you and the rest of my family looking after me. Telling me what I can and cannot do." Ginny had stood up and her voice was echoing inside of the small stone room. "If I want to see Draco, I will. There is nothing you or that overbearing husband of yours can do about it." She finished speaking, sat back down, and stared at Hermione. Neither one of them spoke for several minutes, finally Ginny asked, "are we going to discuss Tonks' death or have I just wasted my time coming over here?"

Hermione's eyes were bloodshot and tears were filling them threatening to run down her face. She looked at Ginny with loathing. "No Ginny! I will not discuss that with you. I have nothing else to say to you."

Ginny looked back at her with loathing on her face. "What the hell Hermione. What are you so fired up about? Don't you like it when you can't control my life?"

"That is not what I am upset about." She stopped to take a deep breath to try to calm her down. "I don't trust Draco, and if you insist on seeing him then I guess I can't trust you either."

"What?" Ginny jumped to her feet and appeared for a second if she might attack Hermione. "You! Ungrateful! Arrogant! Bitch! You live in my house and you tell me I can't be trusted. We were supposed to be working together and now you are telling me I'm unworthy. Goodbye!" Ginny turned and stormed out of the door, and slammed it behind her. She returned five seconds later to pick up her shoes that she left behind because of her state of mind. She stopped to glare at Hermione once more before walking out and slamming the door again.

Hermione let the teardrops fall now. Ginny had hurt her with what she said, but the pain that Hermione was feeling was because of something else. The letter that Ron sent her said that the Ministry knew about him and Hermione being at Bull Bay yesterday, but there was no mention of Ginny being there. He was now on probation and could lose his job if he wasn't careful. The Ministry pulled him off all active cases and Draco had gone through all the case files in his desk before he came to work. It seemed that Draco was at the center of this investigation. He also mentioned Ginny after Ron received probation.

Hermione's head was swimming with the thoughts that Ginny would tell Draco what they had been doing at Bull Bay. She could not believe that she would say something that would obviously cause her brother so much trouble. Sitting at her desk, she picked up a quill, and started to write a note to Ron, telling him that it might be time to move out of twelve Grimmauld Place and back into the Burrow. She would need to go to the schools Owlery, since Ajax flew off to London.

[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]

Hermione had a fitful night of sleep. She was still upset by Ginny's possible betrayal. She stood in front of the mirror in her loo, trying to pull her hair up in a bun, when she heard a knock on her door. Her heart quickened. What if it is Ginny? What would she say to her? Should she slam the door in that tart's face? Hermione finished her hair and walked through her sitting room towards the door. Whoever it was was being very impatient. They have knocked at least ten times in the past minute.

Opening the door Hermione braced herself for the confrontation with Ginny. She was surprised when she saw Dawlish standing there with two wizards and a witch from the MLE. She stared at them dumbfounded.

"Ms. Hermione Granger-Weasley," spoke Dawlish loudly with an authoritative tone. "Your employment at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry has been terminated as of eight o'clock this morning. I am here to escort you off the grounds. You are to pack your personal belongings and be off these grounds in ten minutes."

Hermione stood there with her mouth hanging open in shock. "Why," she feebly said, "Why am I being fired?"

Dawlish looked at her with no compassion and stated, "Substandard teaching, you have nine minutes."

Hermione looked around her study it would take a long time to pack everything. She drew in a deep breath, turned and looked at Dawlish. "I will be done in nine minutes!" she snapped at him before slamming the door in his face. She immediately placed a charm on the door so he couldn't open it.

"Winky! Dobby!" she shouted.

They appeared in front of her. Even though Hermione hated the slavery of House-elves she had asked Winky and Dobby to help her at times because they are free elves. Hermione would pay them a small stipend or order them to sit and relax for an entire day with her. "Yes, mistress Weasley?" they squeaked.

Hermione didn't have time to tell them not to call her that. "I need you to transport my books and luggage to the Burrow in Ottery St. Catrchpole." Hermione started to wave her wand and mutter incantations as books and personal affects flew about the room and landed in neat piles, which the elves would touch and suddenly take to the Burrow, before returning seconds later for the next bundle. No sooner had they left with the last bundle to be transported, Dawlish hammered on the door again. Hermione looked at the time and saw it was eight-ten. Her ten minutes were up.

She opened the door and Dawlish and his henchmen pushed past Hermione inside of the room. The shocked looks on their faces made her giggle inspite of the circumstances. They all stood there dumbfounded at how she was able to get rid of everything so fast. Satisfied that she foiled their plans of confiscating her personal records, letters, and books, she turned and walked out of the door. She had taken several steps towards the main gate when the witch looked out of the room.

"Where exactly are you going?" asked the witch.

"I am leaving," replied Hermione with a smile on her face. She could hear them looking through her living quarters and finding nothing. "I am supposed to be off the grounds now." She never looked back, but could hear them running out of the room trying to catch up to her.

She kept her head high as she walked through the halls drawing inquisitive looks from all the students. She almost cried as several asked what was wrong. She told them that she had been fired and they protested because they thought she was the best professor at Hogwarts. Dawlish seemed to be bothered by this fact, but stuck to his mission anyway. As the entourage passed the doors to the great hall, nearly every eye was on her, every eye except Ginny's. She sat at the head table staring down at her breakfast. Not looking up to see what was happening to create the chaos in the entance hall.


	6. Another One

Ron coughed and wheezed as his quill scratched across the parchment. His eyes were bloodshot, with tears occasionally running out of the corners and down his cheeks and long nose. He could no longer breathe through his nose, because it was severely congested. Even his lungs were constricting and making a wheezy sound with every breath. It was three o'clock in the afternoon, and he had two more hours of writing before he could quit.

His punishment, or detention as he referred to it, was to rewrite Auror reports from 1630 through 1645. The archivist discovered that Doxies had been chewing on them. Normally Doxies eat curtains and other cloth items, but these had wreaked havoc on the records. They had nearly destroyed the entire section that Ron is now rewriting by hand.

There are spells that could highlight the original writing, but all the duplicating spells would make the new document look exactly like the old ones. So every day Ron reported to the archivists who handed him a large roll of parchment. Ron took the parchment to his desk where he made sure all the Doxies were dead, before he enhanced the writing and started copying it, after returning his wand to Dawlish.

The Doxies' droppings combined with the dust, from the chewed paper, floated like a light fog around Ron's desk. Its toxicity had caused Ron to be sick before noon. Today he wasn't as bad, Hermione had been home after being fired from Hogwarts two weeks ago, and she brewed an antidote to the poisonous effects of Doxie droppings. Ron was still feeling the effects of the droppings but he was much better today. Without the potion, he would be feeling like this one hour after starting the day. He would need to tell Hermione that the potion could be stronger, or he should take more of it. He was hoping that when he gets home he would be able to do something other than crawling into bed and sleeping until the next morning.

Last week was difficult. Many people might even say it would be the worst week in their entire lives, but those people weren't in the middle of a war for most of their young lives. On Sunday, Hermione, Ginny, and he were attacked while investigating Tonks' death. Monday, he was almost fired, but was put on probation and given this horrible job to do. Tuesday, Hermione was fired from her job as the Transfiguration Professor at Hogwarts. Also on Monday, he received a letter from Hermione stating that she thinks its time they moved out of Grimmauld Place and move into the Burrow. It seemed that Ginny had a huge row with Hermione and made a comment about living under her roof. Ron exploded when he heard about that statement. The only reason they had been living with Ginny all these years was to take care of her when she would get severely depressed.

Ron stopped writing and stared blankly at the junior wall in front of him. The fact that Trask and Draco knew about he and Hermione being at Bull Bay, so quickly, could mean only two things. They were involved with the attackers, or someone told them about it. It hurt Ron that Ginny might have actually told Draco about them being out there. However, she dated him last summer, and went to Spain for a week with him during August. Trying to forget about this painful situation, he inked his quill and returned to his parchment.

As Ron finished rewriting his record for the day, he noticed a nervous looking MLE employee walking into Kingsley's office. He left the office a few seconds later, followed by Kingsley, who walked over to Mad-Eye's desk, bent down, and talked quietly to him. Ron could not see Mad-Eye's reaction or hear what was being said, because of the junior walls and the angle he was sitting. After Kingsley finished talking, he straightened up. Moody stepped out from his cubicle and walked towards the door. Ron was torn. He wanted to find out what was going on, but he didn't want to risk losing his job or Kingsley's.

He didn't remain in a quandary for long, as Dawlish appeared around the cubicles. He placed a hand on Mad-eye's chest, halting his progress towards the door. A few words were exchanged, before the three men turned and looked at Ron. Mad-Eye and Kingsley both looked concerned and irritated, but Dawlish almost seemed happy as he walked with the other two towards Ron.

Stopping at Ron's cubicle, Dawlish stood over him and smiled while speaking. "There has been a change, Weasley; you are to accompany Moody on this mission." He handed Ron his wand and stepped aside. "Don't sit their man, get moving," ordered Dawlish.

Ron grabbed his wand and quickly made his way to Moody, who was still standing by Kingsley, with a scowl on his face. "What do you think you are doing, Weasley?"

"I am following orders, Alastor," replied Ron. It was hard for him to keep his voice serious. After two weeks behind a desk, he was anxious to go on an actual mission, even if it was probably a suicide mission. "At least there are two of us now. That should more than double our chances," said Ron with confidence.

"Yeah well let us be off then," huffed Mad-Eye, as he turned and continued towards the door. They walked at a fast pace until they were in the hallway between the Aurors department and the lifts. Mad-Eye suddenly grabbed Ron's arm and pushed him up against the wall. His magical eye spun in its socket at dizzying speed. As the other eye bore into Rons', he whispered so low that Ron could barely hear, "You think this will be a simple mission, do you Weasley?"

"No, I know that anytime we go out it could be our last," assured Ron.

"Well, this might be," Mad-Eye had his ugly scarred face inches from Ron's. "The location is a perfect place for a trap. I have been there before. It is in Wales north of Cardiff and Newport by the town of Rogerstone. The place is rolling hills and forest. A person couldn't pick a better spot to have an ambush."

Ron looked at his senior Auror for a second, before asking, "Do you have a plan?"

"Not yet, but we must make one fast, before they wonder why we haven't left yet," he grunted before pulling Ron towards the lifts. As they walked, he added, "I'll tell you one thing, and I am serious, I don't want your mother to have to bury another son."

Ron turned and looked at him in shock. It sounded like he didn't want Ron to go along or to go and hide from danger. The implications of what he said were still going through Ron's mind when they stepped onto the lift and it started towards the Atrium. They were the only people on the lift, so Moody continued their conversation.

"Your mother is a fine woman, Ron. Arthur was a lucky man. They both deserved each other. Hell, they were probably two of the finest people I've ever had the pleasure of calling friends. I don't want your Mother to suffer, so when we Apparate into this valley. You stay low, and get your arse out of there if things get too sticky."

Mad-Eye waited for Ron to respond, but he was still in shock about what he said about his mother. Ron had noticed that over the past year his mother had been talking about Mad-Eye more and more. He had also been at the Burrow for dinner almost every night. He had passed this off as his mother helping Order members, because Remus was also staying at the Burrow, except during the full moon. The thoughts of his mother and Mad-Eye Moody dating were spinning through his head when his gruff voice broke him out of his trance.

"You hear me?"

"Yeah, I hear you, but I don't think I can do that," replied Ron. "Why don't we call in the Order? We could stop at the Burrow and Patronus everyone who isn't there. We may be able to catch whoever is setting this trap for us in our own ambush." Moody didn't reply for a few seconds. Ron was thinking that the man actually wanted to Apparate into a trap on a suicide mission.

"Good plan, Weasley," was all he said. The lifts doors opened and they walked across the Atrium to the Apparation zone. As they walked, Ron noticed a couple of witches that he has seen before in the prosecutor's office watching them. It may have been a coincidence, but he doubted it.

[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]

They Apparated outside of the Burrow's wards. Ron started running towards his home, while Moody lumbered along behind him. They were only half-way to the house when Hermione came running out. She had a look of panic in her eyes. His mother appeared, at the front door, a few seconds later. She also knew that something was wrong.

It took almost a minute to explain everything to them. Once they had done that, everyone jumped into action. The four of them sent Patronuses off to various Order members. Fred and George were at their shop, Bill at Gringotts, Fleur at home, Remus had gone to the Tonks's. They had decided not to send one to Ginny. This had caused a temporary argument with Mrs. Weasley, but she conceded when she considered the occurrences of the past two weeks. Kingsley being at work could not get away and others would see a Patronus in the department.

With that accomplished, Ron and Moody ran to the edges of the wards to Dissapparate. Before they did, Ron hugged and kissed his wife good-bye. He saw out of the corner of his eye his mother hugging Moody. He couldn't help but stare at the two of them, with a surprised look on his face.

Ron reached the edge of the ward first and stood there waiting for the old Auror. When Moody finally arrived he looked at Ron and asked him, "What are you looking at?"

"I need to know," began Ron, as he looked at Moody. "Where did you go the night when Harry died?" His voice was forceful and almost accusatory.

Moody stood and stared at him for and extended time that seemed like an hour to Ron, "I went to see Albus."

Ron gave him a puzzled look, "He was dead already, couldn't it have waited."

Moody nodded and looked ashamed. "Albus and I have had a bottle of oak-matured mead waiting for the day Voldemort was finally defeated." He paused to look at Ron. "I should have stayed instead of sharing a bottle of mead with an old friend. Sorry!"

"How did you share it with a dead man?" inquired Ron. His mind was working overtime trying figure that out.

"I poured it over his tomb," said Moody with finality in his voice. "Are you ready to go, or do you want to discuss something else?"

The feeling of being pulled through a tube diminished, and Ron's feet hit solid ground. He immediately realized he was in a clearing of a forest, but it was strangely quiet. Even though he had been standing in this spot for only a second or two, he had an uneasy feeling. He heard and felt no movement or other life around him. All the animals were either dead or hiding. He was looking around at his surroundings. They were standing 200 feet from the nearest patch of woods. There were small trees and brush in the clearing they were standing in, but nothing really good for cover. He was standing to the right of Moody and turning to his right as Moody turned to his left. They didn't speak, but they could sense each others feelings and almost read each others mind.

The collision of Moody's elbow on Ron's back caught him off guard. The old Auror hit him with all his might and weight. Ron went crashing to the ground. As he fell, the area around him lit up with green and red lights. Ron put his hands out to catch him, as a green curse collided with the ground where his head would have been.

He had no time to look around or even fire back curses. He knew Mad-Eye was dead. He could sense his body being buffeted around by the curses that were colliding with it. The thing Ron had to do now was survive and possibly start fighting back, but first and foremost was surviving. He started crawling on all fours towards a clump of brush. It was barely three feet high and would provide little protection from killing curses, but at least it would be cover and possibly hide him temporarily. Every few feet he would throw himself to the ground and roll to either the right or the left to avoid being hit by curses. With Mad-Eye dead, everyone was concentrating on him now.

He had only been in this valley for less than a minute, but it felt like a lifetime to him. His first clump of cover had exploded into flames, and the curses were coming so close to him that he could feel the heat from them as they passed by his face. Most of the brush around him was now on fire. He was almost completely surrounded by fire, and he could hear someone giving orders to set the rest of the area on fire. As he crawled, he tried to remember the Flame-Tickling jinx. If he could use that, he could hide in a burning clump of brush and not be hurt.

Remembering the jinx, he tapped his wand on his head and said the incantation. He could feel a tickling sensation over his entire body. He was only five feet away from a clump of burning brush. Knowing that the jinx worked, he became braver and decided to try to find out who the leader was. Looking through the dancing flames he saw a lone figure in a Death Eaters mask. Creeping slowly through the flames, Ron inched closer and closer to Death Eater. He was just about at the perfect spot to stun him, when he felt his body snap into a rigid posture, with his arms and legs clamped tightly together.

The Death Eater raised his hand and all the other curses stopped. Ron thought to himself _Incantatum Finite_ , but his wand wasn't in his hand so he couldn't break the hex on him.

"You fought bravely, Weasley, but, alas, your fate shall end up being the same," mocked the Death Eater. Ron thought he recognized the voice of Lucius Malfoy, but he wasn't positive. "It is time for you to join your father." At the angle that Ron was laying, he could see the Death Eater's wand tip pointing at him. The tip was glowing green as he started to say the incantation. Before he could finish, His wand exploded and shattered into many little pieces.

Curses were once again being shot around in the valley, but this time they weren't being directed towards Ron. He soon heard sounds of Apparation, before it got deathly quiet again. He laid there unable to move, release the Hex, or to see what was happening. He could hear the crackle of the fire as it consumed the brush, and he could hear faint footsteps.

He breathed a sigh of relief as Hermione briefly stepped into his field of vision. He felt the curse release him as she dove at him and pulled him to her. "Merlin, I thought I had lost you," she whispered in his ear.

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in tighter to him. "For a minute I thought I was dead…"

He never finished his sentence because Hermione pulled away from him and started to slap and hit him. "You bloody stupid git. How could you walk right into an obvious trap like that?" she yelled at him while slapping his shoulder for effect. "You couldn't wait?" she glared at him. "Now Mad-Eye is dead…"

"He is the one who insisted on charging in here like that. We had to. The Ministry ordered us to…"

Hermione let go of Ron, and sat back on her heels. Everyone who knew her could tell she was running the facts of these cases through her head now. Ron, who has gained wisdom with the years, sat on the ground and let his wife process the information.

"Ron, we need to get out of here," she stated emphatically. "Not you! You need to get Moody's body back to the Ministry. Do not tell them about the Order being here." She stopped for a second. Ron several years ago would have interrupted her at this point, but he has learned that it is best to let her work out the details before questioning her ideas. "Tell them – tell them it was a trap. Don't suggest that the Ministry was involved, and that the Order was here. We need to keep those facts to ourselves."

She finished talking and stood up offering her hand to Ron. He took it, pulled himself up, and then pulled her into a tight embrace. They went around and checked on the other Order members, and told them what type of information could be relayed. Everyone agreed to not tell Ginny anything now. Every time someone suggested or agreed with that, Ron felt a little tug at his heart. He still could not believe that his little sister would possibly betray the family to the Malfoys, of all wizards.

Everyone gathered together by Moody's body before Disapparating. Ron looked around and addressed the small crowd. "I would like to thank whoever it was that destroyed that scum's wand, before he could kill me." Ron looked around the crowd and noticed that Hermione was blushing a light shade of pink.

"I did it Ron, but – a – I was aiming for him," replied Hermione sheepishly.


	7. Those Eyes

Ginny sat in her favorite wing back chair in the dimly lit sitting room of twelve Grimmauld Place. She had arrived home from Hogwarts several hours ago. The term had ended that day and she was home for summer holiday. She had a cup of tea with a little Firewhiskey in it, needing something to calm her nerves. These past two weeks have been horrible for her. Her close friend and confidant, Tonks, was murdered. She had that terrible fight with Hermione, and the next day Hermione was fired as a Professor, for substandard teaching. She didn't even see Hermione being escorted out of the school until she was gone. She had been so upset because of Hermione's mistrust of her that she sat at the head table with her eyes down eating breakfast. She didn't look up until she heard the commotion caused by all the students filing out into the entrance hall. By the time she looked up to investigate, Hermione had already exited the grounds.

Taking a sip of the drink, she let the Firewhiskey warm her and calm her nerves. The china cup rattled on the saucer as her hands were shaking from built up sexual anxiety. With everything going on in her life the last thing she needs right now was another attack like she was experiencing. She never told Ron or Hermione about them, because she was afraid they would think she was completely mental. At times, she wonders if she wasn't mental. She can find no reasonable explanation to be feeling the things she was feeling. Harry has been dead for five years, why then does she still feel as though he was staring at her right now with that intensely randy look in his eyes. The same look that used to make her want to melt into his arms, when he was still alive.

They had become so close in the three years that they were together. Even though she would only spend the holidays around him during the first two years, they seemed to be able to feel each other's feelings without even talking. During her seventh year at Hogwarts, every time she would miss him, he would send his Patronus to her at night to tell her he loved her and missed her. Then after they became engaged, the connection seemed to get stronger as they spent more time together. She could sense his moods at a distance and he could sense hers. At times she could almost swear that they were able to speak to each other through their minds. She didn't hear words forming, but she understood what he was meaning to say before he said it. She knew when he was looking at her and thinking randy thoughts. Even when she wasn't looking at him, she could still feel his beautiful green eyes staring at her.

The night he defeated Voldemort, she could tell he was happy about something, yet he was also nervous. He must have suffered greatly during the battle, because her connection seemed to waver at times with him. Then when she was waiting for him at the Apparation zone, a wave of pain and emotion hit her so hard that she collapsed to her knees. That was when she went to get Ron. She knew something was wrong. She could no longer feel Harry. The connection was gone.

The first year she felt nothing but emptiness in her soul. She had never realized how much of her was connected to Harry. When he died, a huge part of her also died. If he was truly dead? After a year, she had a huge emotional surge like she hadn't felt since that horrible night. She was sleeping and suddenly she was awakened with a huge wave of emotion, like she would feel when Harry needed her. She lay in bed that night trying to get back to sleep, but she couldn't. She was as worked up then as she was now. Since that night there have been many occasions when she would be swept under an identical wave of emotions. They would suddenly well up in her, making her heart race, her nerves tingle, and leaving her so randy that she almost couldn't think of anything else for days. Only two things stopped it, and one was tea and Firewhiskey, and the other was finding a man. It left her in a strange predicament. She didn't want to go out and be a slag, but she also couldn't stand being alone with these waves of emotion running through her.

Being the celebrated fiancé of Harry Potter made her life so complicated. It seemed like all men either wanted to talk all night about how great Harry was, look at her as the ultimate conquest because of her celebrity status, or were after all the money Harry left her. She didn't need reminded of Harry. She took his last name because he was the last of the Potters, also she received everything she would have from him if they had been married. She had set up a foundation to help families that had been devastated during the long war with Voldemort. Many times giving the orphaned children money to start out their lives, or money for families to rebuild and start their life up again. She had placed all the money from Sirius' family in this fund. Shortly after creating it, she started getting donations from other people for her cause, and she has also had fund raisers to supplement the fund for future philanthropic ventures. If you would include this fund that she controls with the Potters' inheritance, she was one of the wealthiest witches in England and possibly Europe.

She had dated several different wizards in the past four years, almost always with her family's approval. She had never thought about dating Draco until last year. Draco asked her out several times for a year before she finally agreed. She had only planned to go on one date. If her family hadn't interfered than that would have been it. Ron, Fred, and George had insisted that she stand him up. Ginny let her rebellious temper get the best of her and went out with him anyway. Then she saw her brothers following her and Draco around. That infuriated her so much that she started seeing him every weekend. Every date she would see a redhead, which looked like one of her brothers, following her. They all denied that they were following her around, but she knew better than to believe them.

They hated Draco and his father with an unbridled passion. Ginny was uneasy about being around Lucius Malfoy. Lucius was accused of killing her father at the Ministry the day of Voldemort's attack. He was in prison awaiting his trail whenever Mundungus Fletcher was killed in Muggle London. Dung was the only witness to place him at the scene; all the other evidence was purely circumstantial. Her family blamed Draco for manipulating evidence that allowed his father to escape a prison term at Azkaban, even though Trask was the barrister prosecuting Lucius.

Draco, after the war, was hired by the Ministry to work in the prosecuting barrister's office. He had turned spy for the Order and the Ministry shortly after Snape's death. He was rewarded for his help during the war against Voldemort with a good job at the Ministry. Many of her family and Order members still don't trust him, but if it wasn't for him than the war would have lasted longer. Snape had been discovered by Voldemort and was murdered in dramatic style. Draco was still brave enough to continue to spy after seeing what happened to Snape.

Ginny hadn't heard from Draco since the beginning of this school year, until the day before Hermione was fired. She had received an Owl from him asking if they could go on a date the Saturday after end of term. Ginny had sent the Owl back to him with a note saying that she would let him know tonight. She still hadn't decided what to do. She has no animosity towards him, but she doesn't feel any connection to him either.

She was sitting sipping her tea and thinking about what to do, when a wolf Patronus appeared in front of her. "Ginny," the voice of Remus sounded sad. "I would like to come over and talk to you. Please send a Patronus back letting me know if that is possible."

She sat there in shock. A thousand different things were running through her mind. All were concerning another death in her family. She pointed her wand and a silver streak shot out and disappeared through the wall. She walked to the kitchen, made some tea without Firewhiskey, and placed some biscuits on a plate for Remus. She had just finished when a knock could be heard at the front door. Holding the tray with her left hand, she walked to the door and tapped it with her wand. The door had been charmed to reveal who was on the other side of it. Seeing it was Remus, she tapped the locks with her wand and they clicked open.

"Good evening Remus," greeted Ginny. "What brings you over tonight?" Her voice was bright and cheery even though her insides were twisting with fear.

"We need to talk," was Remus' icy reply. He didn't look angry, but his tone was clipped. Ginny turned and led him into the sitting room, where she sat the tea tray down between two chairs. They sat down and Ginny poured him a cup without a word said by either.

After sipping on the tea, Remus looked up at Ginny. He looked to have aged twenty years in the past month. He always looked old for his age, but now he looked to be almost ancient. What hair he had left on his head was grey, and deep wrinkles creased his tired face. His eyes seemed to be dull and lifeless. Ginny looked at him with empathy. She knows what it is like to lose the love of one's life.

"I know that Ron and Hermione have moved out," stated Remus. "As you may know, I have been spending a great deal of time at the Burrow since…" He hesitated as a wave of pain washed over his face. "…Dora died."

"Remus, if you came here to get me to…"

Remus cut her off. "I came here to tell you that Alastor Moody is dead." His voice seemed to have a hollow ring to it

Ginny sat back in her chair and looked at him. The only thing she could say was, "Oh, I see."

"He died this afternoon. The funeral will be Sunday at one o'clock in the afternoon at the cemetery."

"Why are you telling me this, Remus?" questioned Ginny. She knew the answer. She wanted to hear it from him though.

"Many of the members are not sure of you," replied Remus. He seemed almost embarrassed to say this.

"You mean my family doesn't want me there," said Ginny. Her anger at their rejection making her voice increase steadily. "MY FAMILY doesn't trust me. MY FAMILY…" She stopped talking. It was as though she had run out of words to say, or the ability to say them without crying.

"Your family still loves you Ginny." Remus' voice had taken a hard and icy tone. His eyes were no longer dull and lifeless, but there was genuine anger in them. "They do not like the choices you have made…"

"You mean dating Draco last year," she spat back at him.

"Yes!"

"He was a spy for the Order," she yelled. "If it wasn't for him the war may still be going on."

"I will not discuss that war with you tonight, Ginny," stated Remus firmly. He stood up and placed his teacup on the tray. "I came here to offer you escort to the funeral if you still want to go. Yes, your family, or I should say many in your family really don't want you there."

"Thank you, Remus," mumbled Ginny. Her outburst had drained her and left her feeling guilty. He had come here to help her and support her, because no one else would. "I would like to go to Mad-Eye's funeral." She hugged him, but he didn't return it.

"I will stop by at 12:30 on Sunday. Ginny, many things happened during that war that many of us are still trying to sort out." Remus walked to the front door and left with a final wave good-bye.

Ginny sat back down in her chair and wrapped her arms around her, as emptiness filled her. Her family doesn't trust her. She has never felt so alone in her life without her family or Harry. They had always been there for her. She never knew what it would be like to not have five or six people to talk to and help with personal problems. Now she doesn't have that.

As she sat in her chair thinking about the terrible turn of events, a new thought entered her mind. Could Draco be involved with the murders? There seemed to be a connection with Ministry officials, could he be one of them. He would have the ability to send workers out to investigate false reports. Walking to her writing desk, she pulled out some parchment and a quill, and wrote Draco a note.

[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]

Ginny was standing in her shower letting the water cascade over her body. She had washed twice already, yet she still didn't feel totally clean. Last night she went to see Draco. They met at a nice restaurant and were having a rather bland and boring dinner conversation. When she spied a redhead watching them from a distance, at first she became angry that her family was watching her again. However, she realized that they wouldn't know she was seeing Draco. She looked more carefully and realized that it wasn't a Weasley. As she ate she realized that half the time he would point out the redheads before she mentioned them. When she sat back and thought about everything surrounding their relationship, if it could be called that. Things didn't seem right to her. He has always been a self-centered git, but the way he talks and acts now is different. She intended only to have dinner with Draco, but she wanted to keep his trust. Against her actual desires and to keep his trust, she ended up spending the night with him.

Turning off the shower, she stepped out onto the bathmat to dry herself. She needed to get out her black robes and get dressed for the funeral. She could feel her stomach tighten as the thoughts of seeing her family filled her head. Finishing drying her hair, she pulled on her robes. As the weight of the robe rested on her shoulders a strange feeling overtook her. These robes seemed to represent all of her lost loves. She wore them for her father, brothers, and Harry's funerals. The weight of the dead seemed to come crashing down on her. Ginny thought her knees were going to buckle for a second. Guilt filled her. She felt that she had failed all of them. She should have been stronger. She should be able to move on with her life, as so many others did. She couldn't because she was so empty after Harry died and the entire world was watching and scrutinizing everything she did. Hers was the great tragic love story of the war, and everyone wanted to talk about it.

Shortly after Harry's memorial service Colin Creevey, who was a part-time reporter for the Daily Prophet, asked her permission to write a story about her and Harry. She finally agreed; when Colin agreed to allow her final say in what gets published. He had interviewed her, Hermione, Ron, and many of the Order members. He wrote a very accurate story about the two of them, while not revealing too many private things. The story was posted in seven consecutive editions of the _Daily Prophet_. The paper sold out each day and they had even printed extra copies. The entire Magical world was caught up in the story of her and Harry. If she felt that Harry had drawn a great deal of attention before he defeated Voldemort, it was nothing compared with what she experienced after the article came out. She had only agreed to the article because it would expose a side of Harry no one knew; his loving and caring side. She didn't want or need any additional attention on her. However, all the attention, all the concern, all the sympathy drove her deeper into depression. Everything she did made the front page of the Daily Prophet. The eyes of the world were upon her and she hated it. She hated not being able to go anywhere or do anything without people flocking to her. She ended up spending most of her time hiding in this house, almost like Sirius had done during her fourth year.

[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]

Remus and she appeared in the field outside of the wards surrounding the cemetery. The day matched her mood. It was grey, cold, and a light mist was in the air. They walked across the damp grass towards the entrance of the cemetery. This cemetery was originally set up to bury Order members who had died, so Voldemort couldn't make Inferi out of past friends and loved ones. A body had to be charmed before nature completely destroyed it for it to be useful as an Inferi. After the war, the Order had decided to keep this place Unplottable, so other wizards and witches could not come here and destroy the serene setting to see the graves of their friends. Harry was buried beside his parents at Godrics Hollow. It seemed only fitting that he be placed there. Everyday some witch or wizard can be seen visiting his grave, but only a few times had the place been disturbed. Crossing the wards, the headstones all came into view.

With the headstones, her family came into view. They were milling around a fresh grave talking quietly. Remus walked straight towards the group. Ginny hesitated but he grabbed her hand and pulled her forward. Ron, Hermione, and Kingsley were standing off to one side talking quietly to each other. Seeing her approaching, they stopped talking and stared at her. She felt like running over there and hugging her brother and best friend, but she couldn't.

As anger and frustration of her situation built up inside of her, Fabian ran to her and gave her a big hug, causing it to melt away. Tears started to form in Ginny's eyes. Having one family member, even a four-year-old boy, who still openly cared about her made her feel better. She had set Fabian down to be engulfed in her mother's arms. The two women exchanged hugs and kisses, before breaking apart.

"Oh, Mum, thank you," whispered Ginny into her mother's ear. "I really needed that. Thank you."

Mrs. Weasley pulled back from Ginny, and cupped Ginny's face in her hands. "No matter what, Ginny. I am your mother, and I will always love you." Her eyes seemed cold and hard, and her words had an edge to them.

Ginny pulled away from her, because of the look in her eyes. It seemed to press on her like a great weight. Ginny looked at the rest of her family and they had that same look in their eyes. She didn't feel her feet back pedaling from the other people standing there, until Remus placed his hand on her back. The looks on their faces and cold accusing stares of their eyes made her want to leave. They were angry with her. They didn't trust her. It made her feel so alone. Here surrounded by her family, she felt like an outsider. Her family, that would accept virtual strangers as one of their own, was rejecting her. She started to turn to leave, until Remus grabbed her arm.

"The service is starting soon," he said quietly.

He ushered her to a spot where she never stood before. Even though no one ever designated spots for everyone to stand, they had always stood in the exact same location at every service. Hers had always been beside Hermione. Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey were there now. Hermione had her hand on Professor McGonagall's shoulder. She was now standing near the foot of the grave beside Remus and Kingsley. The closest family member to her was Fabian, and Bill kept him away from her.

The service proceeded as they have before. During the service, none of her family would look at her except to give her a cold hard glare. The cruelest stare was from Hermione. She seemed to emit pure hatred towards her. Ginny could almost feel Hermione's eyes upon her, even when Ginny wasn't looking at her. She would feel this anger wash over her and look up to see Hermione staring at her. Once they made eye contact, Hermione would look away.

Fred and George hadn't spoken and barely looked at her the entire time she was there. Tears started to run down her face. They had nothing to do with Mad-Eye's death. That wasn't as important to her as being rejected by her family. She remembered vaguely making a toast to Mad-Eye and drinking the Firewhiskey. The lily dropped from her hand onto the grave before she even remembered picking it out of the urn. She forgot to grab extra lilies, as she had done at every other service. Looking at her family, she noticed her mother was holding three lilies and Hermione had a fourth. She stood there and watched as her family moved away from her towards Charlie, Percy, and her father's graves.

Ginny watched in a trance, as they visited the three graves without her. She was nearly oblivious to everything else going on in the cemetery. The Tonkses and Remus were at Dora's grave, and Kingsley was still standing over Mad-Eye's. She stood there and numbly watched her family leave the cemetery, without saying goodbye. She turned away and stared at Remus, who was now alone leaning over Tonks' headstone. She walked over to him, while keeping her distance to allow him privacy at this moment. She watched as he quietly spoke to his dead wife then gently kissed his hand and pressed it to her name. Ginny was touched by his tenderness and strength.

She waited until he stood up before speaking. "Do you find it hard to remember that she is gone?" At Remus' strange expression, she further explained. "What I meant to say was do you ever find yourself expecting her home, or to see her at breakfast?"

Remus looked at her with a sad smile. "Not too much, since I am practically living at the Burrow. Why?"

"There are times when I feel that Harry is still alive, and he should be coming home anytime." Ginny stared reflectively out over the headstones. "I used to think that I was so strong, but now, I am not sure."

Remus walked up to her and lifted her chin. "I was just as bad off as you, when James and Lily died and I thought Sirius was a Death Eater. I went into a depression that lasted for…" He stopped talking and smiled at her. "…until Dora came along. I looked at every moment with her as a gift, as something that I didn't deserve. I am devastated now that she is dead, but at least she gave me true happiness. I concentrate on that, not on the fact that she is gone."

"I guess that is my problem. I think too much about what we could be having together than what we had…"

"Ginny, don't berate yourself. I can move on with life. I can go places in this world and not be reminded of Dora. You can't do that. Everywhere you go, there are reminders of Harry. You would have to live as a Muggle, and we need you too much for that. Besides, in three months time, you lost your father and husband. That is a lot of pain, and there is an old Muggle song that talks about how the first cut is the deepest. Don't worry, Ginny, you are still strong. Your heart just took a severe beating then." Remus stopped talking and stared at her waiting for a response. She couldn't do anything but give him a nod of recognition and a watery smile. "Would you like me to accompany you to Godrics Hollow?" he asked her.

"Yeah, that would be nice," replied Ginny. Her voice was barely audible.

Ginny and Remus appeared in the copse of trees across the field from the cemetery. They could look across the field and see Ron and Hermione at Harry's grave. Remus looked at her. She understood that look. He was asking her what to do. "Why don't we wait here until they are done?"

"All right, that sounds reasonable."

They stood there in silence waiting for Ron and Hermione to finish at Harry's grave. As Ginny stood there with Remus, she decided to ask him about Draco. "Why is it that no one in the Order trusts Draco?"

Remus almost snorted at her question, but he saw that she was serious. "Draco was a spy for Voldemort."

"But he was helping us, wasn't he?"

"At times, but in the end we are sure he told Voldemort how to defeat Harry."

Ginny snapped her head around from watching her brother and sister-in-law and stared at Remus. "What do you mean defeat Harry? Why are you so sure?"

Remus smiled indulgently at her. "He informed Voldemort that you two were in love that was why Voldemort kept trying to capture you. Didn't Harry tell you all this?"

"No," was her quiet response. "He didn't."

"He didn't tell you that Voldemort wanted to capture you and hold you hostage? That was the reason why you weren't allowed to come on the last two missions. The Death Eaters had strict orders to find you and bring you to him."

Ginny thought about the last two missions that she had gone on. She just assumed that she had been unluckly and found the main body of Death Eaters. Each time Harry had come to her rescue. It was because of their connection that he knew she was in trouble and afraid. Each time the Order had abandoned their quest to defeat Voldemort and helped her out. She had been so embarrassed that they had done this that when Harry asked her not to go again she didn't fight too much with him. He did give her a very good reason to stay behind, but it wasn't because Draco had betrayed them. "How do you know that was what had happened?"

"We had captured a couple of Death Eaters, Ginny. They divulged the plan to us. Supposedly, Draco saw you and Harry together and you were wearing your ring. He surmised that you two were engaged, and told Voldemort." Remus stopped talking and stared at her. She was clutching Harry's engagement ring under her robes. He cleared his throat and shakily asked a question. "What did Harry tell you to get you to stay home? We were all afriad for him when he said he would get you to stay home and safe."

Ginny chuckled at Remus' comment. Her temper always had been feared by all. "He told me that I had to stay safe. He said that if I was safe, then there would be nothing that would keep him from returning to me." Ginny said this and thought back to the last time she saw Harry alive.

 _She lay wrapped up with Harry. Even though the evening was warm, she didn't want to let him go. She would need to eventually, but not until the very last second. He also was not attempting to get out of bed and get dressed. They lay like this holding each other, allowing their love for each other pass between them. During these tender moments she's positive that they can read each others minds. There is no need for words; they would only break the peaceful lay cheek to cheek, as she ran her fingers through his messy hair, and the other hand gently stroked his back. He gently kissed her cheek, as he ran his fingers through her long hair gently while also caressing her cheek, shoulder, and side._

 _Three loud booms exploded their tranquility as someone pounded on the bedroom door. "Ten minutes till we leave, Harry!" shouted Ron through the closed door._

 _As Ron's feet echoed down the hall, she closed her eyes and relaxed her grip on Harry. He slowly pushed away from her causing her to feel chilled, even though the air in the room was loss of contact with him took the warmth of his love. She fought back tears as he moved over to the wardrobe to get ready to meet Voldemort. The thought of this being the last time she might see him alive kept forcing itself into her thoughts. She listened to him getting dressed wanting to be by his side as he faced his enemy. However, he wants her to be safe. He has told her that he needs her to be safe so that he has something to fight for and rerturn to. So she will wait here for him, and worry that she might never see him again._

 _She could hear him approach the bed, and wordlessly bend over and kiss her on the lips. She responded to his kiss, but refused to grab ahold of him for fear that she wouldn't let go. He pulled away too soon. She laid there trying to keep herself from jumping up and demanding to go with him. She heard him fumbling with the doorknob. Not being able to take it any longer, she sat up in bed and walked to the foot of the bed on her squeezed her hands into fists to keep her concentration. "Come back to me, Harry! You promised! Come back to me!" she shouted at him, while still resisting the urge to grab or accompany him._

 _He stood there with that quirky smile on his face letting his eyes wonder over her as she knelt naked on their bed. "With a sight as beautiful as you, nothing could stop me."_

 _Ginny watched as he stepped out the door and closed it._

"Ginny, are you all right?" asked Remus. He had his hand on her shoulder and was staring searchingly in her eyes.

She snapped out of her memory and fought the tears that always seemed to form because of it. Remus was looking at her with concern. He wasn't being judgemental, but a good friend. "I was just remembering the last time I saw Harry. He said that nothing could keep him from coming back to me." She quickly wiped her eyes and took a deep cleansing breath. "I guess he was wrong," she muttered bitterly.

Remus stepped back from her and gave her a disapproving look. "Ginny, what is wrong? Do you think that Harry didn't love you enough?"

Turning her head, she saw that Ron and Hermione were leaving the cemetery towards the town. They are probably going to a pub for a pint. "Ron and Hermione are leaving," she said, deliberately avoiding Remus' stare she stepped forward towards the cemetery. She led the way as Remus quietly walked behind her. She could feel his eyes on her back as they crossed the field and entered the cemetery. Ginny pulled on the chain around her neck dragging Harry's engagement ring out. She removed it from the chain and placed it on her left ring finger.

"I see you still have the ring. You still love him," he stated sympathetically.

Ginny looked down at Harry's headstone. "Yes, I always will."

"You two had a love for each other like I've never seen before. Well, actually only once before," he said, as he stood looking at James and Lily's headstones. "I was the last person to see Harry alive. I am sure everyone has figured that out, by now."

Ginny looked up at him. "Was he still weak, when you left?"

"No, he wasn't." Ginny sniffed back a sob, at Remus's reply. "He wanted to talk to me about something, so he waited until everyone else left. Ginny, Harry was so excited about defeating Voldemort that he was almost bouncing off the trees. Do you know what he was so excited about?" He waited until she shook her head no. "He was thinking about marrying you. He wanted to talk to me about Dora and me standing in for James and Lily. Ginny, the first thing he thought about when Voldemort was defeated was having a life with you. Maybe, if I had waited a minute longer, I would have been there for Harry. Then maybe, he would still be here." Remus stopped talking and stayed silent for a while, before speaking again. "I am sorry."

"No need to be sorry, Remus. What happened happened, nothing we can do now to reverse it," Ginny said quietly. "I had wondered why he didn't leave earlier. Thank you for telling me that."

"I never said anything, because I was ashamed that I didn't demand Harry to leave first. Maybe if two of us…"

"Remus, please don't blame yourself," consoled Ginny. "I am just glad that you are still my friend."

Remus walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I looked at Harry as my son. You know trying to be a godfather to him. Since you took his name, I consider you a daughter-in-law."

Ginny wrapped her arms around him. "I am glad I still have some family that will talk to me."


	8. An Americn Bearing Gifts

Hermione propped herself up on her left arm, while lying on her side in bed. She used her hand to support her head as she gazed lovingly at her sleeping husband. They had an assignment this morning. Kingsley had told them about it yesterday at Moody's funeral. They had to go to Heathrow and meet a wizard from the United States Magical Government. Kingsley's cousin, who is a high-ranking official in the USMG, contacted him yesterday morning to tell them about a wizard arriving and bringing a gift for him and the Ministry.

The thought of meeting this wizard has her scared. Ever since Ron told her about the Covert Ops division of the USMG, she has been researching them. She hasn't found much information about them, and what she has found has been disturbing. The Daily Prophet had no articles about them. She had to inquire at Flourish and Blotts about books on various magical law enforcement agencies around the world. They had only three different books, and in each book they descibed the USMG's Covert Ops division as only slightly less than assassins. The wizard that they are meeting in a little over two hours was the top Covert Ops agent. What he looks like, Merlin only knows.

Kingsley didn't have a discription of him. He only knew what plane he was arriving on and was given a phrase to tell him, and he was also to return a phrase. She almost laughed at Kingsley when she had heard this, but his cold glare told her that he was serious. He seemed to be afriad of the incoming agent. He wouldn't tell her why, but there was definite fear in his eyes when he told them to be sure to use the phrase properly.

She has gone through so much with Ron over the years. It can't end by misspeaking some cheesy phrase to a madman in an airport. Yet, if these agents are as violent as what she was led to believe, then they will need to be careful. With everything that she researched and Kingsley had told her, they are not much beyond hired killers.

Looking at the alarm clock, Hermione sighed. They need to get up so they can be at gate twelve by seven thirty. She looked down at her husband as he sleeps peacefully. She doesn't know what she would do if he would ever die. With all honestly, she may just spend the rest of her life in a library, because before Ron came into her life, that was all she had. Hermione snaked an arm around his bare chest and gently kissed him on his neck before whispering in his ear, "Time to wake up sleepyhead."

Ron mumbled to himself and rolled into her burying his face in her chest. This took her breath away until she felt his regular deep breathing and heard a soft snore from him. Looking at the clock she figured they could get some extra activity in this morning and still make it to the airport on time. Being able to Apparate does have its advantages. She was just hoping that Ron would be in the mood. Normally this was never a problem, but, after the funeral yesterday and seeing Ginny, he was rather surly last night.

Holding her fingernails against his side, Hermione gently dragged them over his ribs and the sides of his stomach until he suddenly awoke and pushed her hand off him. In doing so he pulled her in tighter, after realizing their positions, Ron responded like she had hoped.

[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]

"Why the Bloody hell, would a powerful wizard want to travel like this," groaned Ron. He and Hermione were standing at gate twelve waiting for the passengers to arrive. The schedule boards all indicated the seven-thirty flight from New York had already arrived. "Why not a Portkey? That would be simple, you would land somewhere away from all these Muggles…"

"Shush, Ron, be careful what you are saying," scolded his wife.

"A wizard is going to walk down that ramp surrounded by – um – normal people unnoticed. Not very likely is it, dear," laughed Ron at the thought of some one who looked like Mad-Eye walking around in the Airport.

"I know Ronald, but he may be able to fit in with this crowd," replied Hermione. "Not all of us stand out in the crowd."

Hermione made certain that neither one of them would look out of place in a modern Muggle he thought about this; Ron ran his finger around the collar of his turtle neck sweater. Hermione had him wearing one of her father's outfits. He had a dark green turtle neck, a brown tweed jacket and tan trousers. He was even wearing a pair Muggle slip-on shoes. The shoes had given him the most trouble. They wanted to fall off his feet with every step. Hermione was dressed almost identical to her mother with dress slacks, two inch pumps, and a light jumper with a blazer.

"Let's hope he doesn't." Ron hesitated as he realized the problem if this wizard blended perfectly with his surroundings. Neither he nor Hermione would be able to spot him, and they both looked like your typical Muggles so he wouldn't be able to spot them either.

"Remember, he is the senior agent. He will probably be your Mothers age or older. Definitely Kingsley's age." As she said this, travelers came walking down the ramp in twos and threes. They walked as fast as possible. Ron and Hermione tried to look at them all, seeing if one of them matched their expectations. Half of the travelers were women and could be eliminated. Many of the men were of the right age, but none seemed to pay any attention to their expectant stares. The travelers were passing through the gate so quickly that Ron and Hermione became anxious and nervous. They were hoping that they hadn't missed the wizard.

Finally, the ramp was empty except for an attendant. Hermione yelled to the attendant asking if everyone was off the airplane. The attendant assured her that they were and through customs too.

"Bugger!" swore Ron.

"Ronald, you must control your temper," scolded Hermione, while giving him an icy glare.

"Hermione, this was important to Kinglsey. We can't muck this up."

"Maybe something happened and he never made the plane in New York. Relax Ron," consoled Hermione.

Ron let out a long sigh. He hated letting Kingsley down. Now that Mad-Eye had passed away, it was only Ron and Kingsley left in the Auror department that could be completely trusted. He can't muck this up for Kingsley's sake. He had to find the wizard, but how? "I guess there is nothing for it, but to go and tell Kingsley we didn't see him." Ron turned and went to take a step, but there was a man standing directly behind him. He went to shove the stranger, because he was so annoyed that this berk was probably eavesdropping on their conversation. He didn't give him a shove, because the stranger appeared to be blind.

"Excuse me," said Hermione, to the stranger. "Can we help you, sir?"

"Possibly," replied the blind man. He was definitely blind or had the appearance of being blind. He held a silver cane with a red tip, and wore dark nearly black lenses in his glasses that had side shields of the same tinted glass. He was young looking probably mid-twenties average height and build. He had a red bandana tied around his head like a cap. It was tied tight around his mousy blonde hair that hung limply down below his shoulders. He had a full beard that seemed to cover most of his face and rested on his chest. What skin they could see was tanned. He wore an old frayed red plaid flannel shirt that was unbuttoned and exposed a black t-shirt that had some logo on it. His jeans were worn and frayed, especially at the bottoms, where they rested on his sandaled feet.

"Would you like us to escort you somewhere," asked Hermione. Her natural desire to help every living thing wouldn't allow this man to stand there helplessly. Ron looked at her as though she was daft for helping him.

"Y'all professional escorts?" he said with a laugh. His voice was different. He had an accent and he spoke with a pronounced lisp. Ron looked puzzled at him. Hermione also was puzzled. Until she realized, what he meant by 'escorts'.

"NO! No, I am. I mean, we are not like that."

He let out a little laugh at her discomfort. "Then may I ask why you two are hangin' out here?"

"We were waiting for someone…"

"Hermione!" Ron cut her off. He was surprised she would say anything.

"Relax there Bubba, she's not hurtin' nothin'," drawled the stranger.

"Look we are here on official business that is none of your concern." Ron grabbed Hermione's arm and started to drag her away from him.

"Hey! Bubba, how were going to recognize the person you were waiting for?" yelled the stranger. It was hard to tell with his full beard, but it looked like he was smiling.

Hermione suddenly stopped when he said this. Everything clicked in her mind. She pulled away from Ron who also stopped walking, but didn't move back to the stranger. She walked up to him cautiously and stood in front of him. She waved her hand in front of his face, before speaking, "He was going to find us."

"Bingo, Darlin'! By the way, you can stop waving your hand in front of my face. I am blind, and it isn't hot so I don't need coolin' down."

Hermione and Ron exchanged shocked looks. Could this be the powerful and dangerous wizard from the USMG? There was only one way to be sure. Kingsley had told them some phrase to say and what the response should be. Hermione swallowed hard to clear her throat. All the fear that she had felt earlier had suddenly came back to her. Not because of his aggressiveness, but he had walked up behind them easily. Ron wasn't saying anything. He seemed as gobsmacked as she was. Slowly and clearly she said, "It is strange to find an angel in this place."

"Particularly bearing gifts from the king of swing," replied the stranger. "My name is J.D. Jones. I'm glad you two finally caught on. What's your names?" He extended his hand towards Ron.

"I'm Ron Weasley, and this is my wife Hermione," said Ron in an official voice. They both shook his hand and noticed that he was wearing light cloth gloves.

"Are there many husband and wife teams here?" questioned J. D. As he spoke, he placed an earpiece in that was attached to a rectangular black box with touch keys on it. He stood there and played with the black box as he listened.

"We are not actually a team. I brought Hermione along because she is familiar with airports."

"Is that so!" quipped J. D. "How many others are here with you?"

Ron and Hermione looked at each other with puzzled expressions. "None, we are the only ones."

"Oh yeah? That's interestin'." He turned his head as though he was looking around the airport, before speaking again. "Well, my GPS has located me, so Bubba, if you and your darlin' wife would walk with me to the baggage claims. We shall get this show on the road." He started walking at a brisk pace down the ramp while moving his cane from side to side.

"My name is Ron. Ron Weasley," stated Ron, as he and Hermione followed behind this man.

"Yup! Ya told me already, Bubba," He walked a few feet further and turned sharply to his right down another hall. As J.D. turned, Hermione pointed to a sign hanging from the ceiling that baggage claims was down that hallway.

Ron mumbled to Hermione, "Ruddy idiot, keeps calling me Bubba, who does he think he is. He is not blind how could he see to turn down that hallway." They continued to follow him, unable to really catch him because he seemed to be able to move at an extremely fast pace for someone who can't see where they are going. The hallway opened up into a large expansive room, as large as or larger than the Great Hall at Hogwarts. It had several round structures that had a moving metal section, and many of them had luggage sitting on this part moving in circles.

They noticed J. D. holding something up and it looked like he pressed a button on the device. A beeping sound could be heard from one of the round structures. He proceeded to walk across the crowded room, bumping into people occasionally until he came to the beeping object. It was a large chest. A seven lock chest to be exact. It seemed out of place this ancient magical piece sitting in a Muggle airport.

"Hey. Bubba, would you lend me a hand here?" asked J. D. "This trunk is pretty heavy. Hell! I even had to pay extra shippin'."

Ron walked up to J.D. and pointed a finger at his chest. "My name is Ron, Ron Weasley, and this is my wife Hermione," Ron said almost shouting. Hermione laid a hand on his arm to try to calm him.

J. D. smiled at him. He seemed to be amused by Ron's outburst. "Have it your way Ron, Ron Weasley. The trunk is coming around again, get ready to grab it."

Ron almost seemed angry enough to curse him, but Hermione giggled at J. D. taking the mickey out on her husband. The two men grabbed the handles of the large trunk and lifted it easily.

As they walked out of the baggage claim, J.D. spoke again, "How far to your car?"

"Car?" said Ron and Hermione together.

"Yeah, car. How else are we going to get out of here unnoticed?"

"I thought we would Apparate to the Ministry," said Ron.

"Apparate, what's that?" questioned J. D.

Ron couldn't suppress his snort at this powerful wizard not knowing what Apparating was. "That is where we disappear here and reappear there," said Ron sarcastically. Hermione looked at her husband with fear in her eyes. She was still scared of this American.

"Shit! Is that what you Brits call it? We call it warpin'," responded J. D.

"Warping?" queried Hermione, "Why would you call it that?" She seemed mystified about that term.

"What you are doin' is warping space and in some cases time. That is why there is always that crack at both ends. Some in the USMG wanted to call it wormholin', but everyone else thought that sounded perverted." J. D. snorted with his last comment.

"Wormholing?" laughed Ron. "Why the bloody hell would you call it that?"

"Cause, it is what you are passin' through. A wormhole is an openin' that can transport you from one place in the universe to another." He stopped walking and Ron and he put the trunk down. He pulled the black box off his belt and unplugged the ear cord from it.

His fingers deftly ran over the surface of it pressing the buttons. His face never turned to look at what his hands were doing. Hermione finally recognized the object, as a cell phone. "That is a cell phone isn't it. My parents have them."

"Yep! It is." He hesitated as a smile definitely crossed his lips. "Ron's wife Hermione." He placed the cell phone to his ear and waited for a couple of seconds. "Hey there. Sylvia, whazzup." He paused to listen, as this conversation was taking place Hermione tried to explain to Ron what a cell phone was. "I need a car to pick to me up at Heathrow Terminal two…. Yeah!… These Brits don't believe in cars, I guess they are all 'green' freaks." He pulled the cell phone away from his ear and reprogrammed it to be a GPS tracking device.

They picked up the trunk and continued to walk out of the terminal stopping at the location to wait for their ride. The day was overcast and a light mist was falling. The temperature was moderate, neither cold nor warm. They had set the trunk down and stood there without talking. J. D. was turning his head around as though he was listening to something in the distance. Hermione and Ron stared at him and his peculiar actions. Hermione was still unsure of him, and her curiosity about this 'gift' he was bringing was beginning to peak.

"Are you sure nobody else was suppose to meet us here?" inquired J. D.

"Yes I am positive," stated Ron emphatically. "Kingsley told only us." Looking at his watch, Ron moaned. Heathrow was at least an hour's drive to the Ministry. He will never make it to work by nine if they ride in a car. "Look. Why can't we just Apparate or warp, as you call it, to the Ministry."

J. D. turned to face him. His voice was hard and almost threatening, "I will not warp into an unsecured area, unless I have no other choice. How do I know it isn't a trap?"

"We gave you the bloody security phrase," shouted Ron.

"Y'all never had someone tortured, and ended up revealing secrets before?" His voice was flat and business like. Hermione got a chill. He doesn't trust them. He thinks, they could be dark wizards, and this concerned her. If she and Ron did something to incite him, they could be in a duel to the death.

"What can we do to prove we are trustworthy?" Ron snapped back at him.

"Be patient," he said. "Need somethin' from my trunk." He placed his hand on the area where the key would be inserted and mumbled something Hermione couldn't understand. Ron stood there and stared at him, with an incredulous look on his face. The trunk lid unlocked and J. D. opened it to reveal a rucksack. He removed the rucksack and snapped the lid shut.

Hermione stood there and nervously rocked back and forth on her feet. Ron was glaring at J. D. and down at his watch. She needed to get Ron to calm down. "Ron, why don't you send a Patronus to Kingsley telling him that we have been delayed?"

"No!" stated J. D. firmly. "No messages stating change of plans. That is not up for discussion." Ron groaned as he said this. "I'm sorry I am such a pain in the ass, but you don't survive in my job by being careless."

Hermione was thinking about how much that sounded like Mad-Eye's "Constant Vigilance" cry, when a limousine pulled up to the curb in front of them. A large middle-aged driver got out in a suit. "Excuse me there mates, are any one in your lot be Richard Cranium."

J. D. let out a laugh. "That would be me," he said. "Sylvia is up to her old tricks again."

The driver proceeded to open the boot and Ron and J. D. hefted the trunk in. When they let go of it the backend of the limo dropped several inches from the weight.

"Blimey mate, whatcha got in there?" asked the driver.

J. D. paused for a second before responding, "Over three hundred pounds of gold."

The driver and Ron's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets at his statement, while Hermione stood there and tried to see if he was taking the mickey out on the whole lot of them. They all climbed into the back of the limo with Ron and Hermione sitting in the back seat facing forward and J. D. sitting facing them. The driver climbed in and asked for the address.

"London, downtown, by Strand and Covent Garden," said Hermione. She wasn't sure if Ron even knew the street address. He never seemed to pay attention to those details since he has never needed to address letters for the Muggle post. The driver pulled away from the curb, quickly left the Airport, and was on the expressway to London.

"So, J. D. how long have you been working at your present job," inquired Hermione. She was trying to make the time go quickly by making small talk. She was also hoping to get a better idea of what this wizard was like.

"Four years."

"Really, I thought you were one of the most senior members in your department." Hermione looked at Ron and they exchanged looks of disbelief.

"I am." He said with a laugh. "The average 'life' expectancy in my department is only eighteen months. Most die or quit by then."

Ron and she exchanged shocked looks again. "I am sorry to hear that. You must have lost many friends."

"If you want to be a pessimist, Darlin'. I like to think of it as making new friends," he quipped. "It is all part of the job. There are only five or six in my line of work at a time, and half of them I've never met. What about y'all. What type of jobs do ya have?"

"Well Bubba, I work…" Ron calling J. D. "Bubba" brought a laugh from the trio in the car. Ron and Hermione told him discreetly what they did. They didn't want to reveal anything to the driver.

"I hope you don't think I am rude, but what does J. D. stand for?" asked Hermione.

"John Doe."

"John Doe, your name is John Doe Jones?" she responded.

"It sure is." He suddenly stopped talking and moved his head around in that strange listening pattern, before yelling for the driver. "How long before we reach our destination? I gotta piss, bad. I gotta a twenty pound note for ya if ya can get me to a bathroom in five minutes." He leaned over and produced a twenty-pound note from his back pocket.

The limo shot forward and quickly exited to a convenience station. J. D. handed the driver the note and grabbed his rucksack as he opened the door. He had one foot out the door when Ron asked if he needed help. "No thank you! I can assure ya'. I know where everthin' is at." He finished stepping out of the car and leaned back in. "I ain't never pissed in the sink and washed my hands in the toilet." With that comment, he closed the door and walked towards the convenience store.

After sitting in silence for several minutes and watching this strange American find his way into the convenience store and then the loo, Hermione spoke, "What do you think, Ron?"

"I think Kingsley and I will be fired when I get back."

"About our guest that is what I want to know."

"He's bloody mental, that one. I am having a hard time believing anything he says."

"He scares me. He scares me horribly. I'm afraid something terrible is going to happen." She reached for his hand.

"You starting to sound like Professor Trelawney now." Hermione released his hand and slapped him on the shoulder. The limo door suddenly opened causing them to grab for their wands.

J. D. stuck his head through and smiled at them. "Relax, everythin' is all taken care of, so we can be off." He climbed the rest of the way in and tossed his rucksack on the seat next to him, making the limo rock from side to side.

"What's in there?" exclaimed Ron.

"Oh just a couple of things I picked up for later," replied J. D.

The rest of the trip to the Ministry was spent in relative silence. Ron and Hermione kept looking at the rucksack wondering what was inside of it. J. D. kept relatively quiet only occasionally asking how much longer before they reached their destination. They were dropped off at the end of the alley where the phone booth was located.

J. D. put the rucksack on and he and Ron carried the trunk to the phone booth. Once they reached it, Ron and J. D. entered the Ministry that way, while Hermione Apparated directly into the Atrium. Once the phone booth reached the Atrium floor, the two men stepped out and the trunk was levitated so they didn't need to carry it. They walked to the wand check in desk, where J. D. produced his wand from the end of his cane.

His wand was the shiniest wand Hermione ever saw. It didn't appear to be made out of wood but some black mineral or gem. Ernie Munch placed the wand on the magical scale. Normally the scale produces a strip of parchment with the type of wand, its magical core, and it owner's name. The wand sat there for several seconds before a strip of parchment poured out of it.

"Stupid bloody machine is broken," groused Ernie. "It says here that the wand is magic," scoffed Ernie. He pointed at the wand on the scale. "Of course it is a magic wand, but what type and it doesn't say the owner, stupid machine." Ernie started to hit the side of the machine several times, while Ron grumbled under his breath.

"Can I have my wand?" asked J. D. "We need to meet someone."

"All right don't get your knickers in a twist." Ernie picked up the wand and handed it back to J. D., who placed it back into the end of his cane.

The trio took the lifts down to the Auror department. The entire time they were in the lifts Ron kept fidgeting. Hermione tried to calm him by rubbing his back, but to no avail. Ron almost shot out of the lift and down the hall, when the doors opened. If Hermione hadn't called to him he would have left her and the American to walk into the office. He stopped and waited for everyone to catch up before entering the Auror department. They passed the nearly empty cubicles and went directly to Kingsley's office.

When they walked into Kingsley's office, they were met by an angry Dawlish, Malfoy, and Trask. Kingsley though looked rather nervous and somewhat relieved at seeing the three of them.

"You're thirty minutes late, Weasley, and what the hell are those two doing here?" yelled Dawlish. He looked like he was going to curse the whole lot of them.

"I sent Ron on an assignment," interjected Kingsley nervously, this statement brought glares from Trask. "I was notified by a relative of mine in the United States Magical Government over the weekend that one of his agents was coming to London. He wanted me to send someone to meet him at Heathrow seven-thirty this morning. I told Ron at Alastor's funeral to do this, and since it was a Muggle location Hermione went along."

"If this was an official Ministry assignment, why wasn't I notified of it?" wheezed the steely eyed Trask. "What exactly is the purpose of this visit?"

"I was sent here to deliver something to Kingsley Shacklebolt," stated J. D. calmly, as he stepped froward past Ron and Hermione.

"You're an American Auror, eh." spat Dawlish. He stepped towards J. D. and stared at him. Dawlish stared at J. D's strange clothing and then his glasses before smirking at him. "You're bloody blind." He started to laugh at him. J. D. didn't flinch or react to Dawlish's taunts. Kingsley looked nervously at Dawlish, but Malfoy, Trask, and Dawlish were acting like three bullies with a new victim.

"I ain't an Auror," replied J. D. calmly.

Dawlish put out his hand and said, "Whatever it is you can give it to me."

"No."

"Why not?" Dawlish reached for his wand as he spoke.

"You are not Kingsley Shacklebolt," responded J. D.

Kingsley stood up and tried to defuse the situation. "What are you to give me? Actually I don't even know your name."

"My name is J. D. Jones, and you are supposed…"

"I am the Head of the Magical Law Department of the British Ministry. Anything that you have for Mr. Shacklebot, you can give to me," ordered Trask. "Draco take it."

Draco stepped forward toward J.D. but suddenly stopped. It had appeared to be nothing more than a twitch of J. D.'s arm but he had quickly extracted his wand from the cane's handle and now had its tip stuck firmly in Draco's throat. Everyone in the room except Trask had grabbed their wands. Ron had his barely out of his jacket pocket before the American spoke. "Ya'll to slow, take yer hands off yer wands, now," he demanded, as he dug his wand into Draco's throat.

Trask held up his hand to stop everyone from casting any curses. Ron relaxed, when he noticed that Kingsley had already set his wand down on his desk with his hands up in surrender. He had never seen Kingsley so scared in his entire life, and he has seen him face off with Voldemort. Beads of sweat were appearing on the experienced Auror's forehead.

"Do you really think you could fight your way out of this building?" asked Trask. "It is filled with British wizards and witches. Put your wand down and give us whatever it is you brought with you."

J. D. laughed at him. "I think I could make it out of here. I have been in tighter spots. I figured I could take you four. This dude will be no problem," he said while jabbing Malfoy. "You don't have your hand on your wand yet, and the other four weren't even quick enough to get their wands out to stop me. After I get out of this room, there are only five people in the next room, and after that there wasn't anyone until we get back to yer lobby. So yeah, I like my chances, so why don't ya'll take yer hands off yer wands."

Ron looked up at Kingsley, who nodded for him to comply. He allowed the wand to slip back into his jacket pocket and removed his hand. He noticed that Hermione had removed her hand from her purse. Dawlish though still had his wand halfway drawn. He was looking at Trask. Trask smiled at him, as though giving him the go ahead.

"Thank you, Ron and Hermione for doin' that," J. D. said politely, before his tone turned to a growl. "You, the one I think is called Drawshit. Take yer hand off yer wand, now."

"It's Dawlish."

"Whatever take yer hand off the wand, now."

Ron looked at Hermione and Kingsley as he couldn't figure out how J. D. realized who had a hand on their wands and who didn't.

Dawlish smiled as he slowly slipped his wand out. "There my hand is…"

Dawlish never finished his sentence as the room was suddenly rent with a brilliant white flash. J. D. had barely moved his wand from Draco's throat, before a thick white flash arced its way from his wand's tip to collide with Dawlish. Ron grabbed his wand at first expecting an all out attack, but soon realized that J. D. had just disarmed and immobilized Dawlish. Dawlish was now stuck to the wall of Kingsley's office with glowing white bands around his ankles, wrists, and around his mouth. His wand was also stuck by the same bond to the wall several feet away from him.

"Now you've pissed me off," growled J. D. "Kingsley, you have until the count of three to give me the password, before I start kicken ass. One!"

"Password?" Kingsley nervously asked.

"Give it to him, Shacklebolt!" shouted Trask.

"Two!"

Kingsley stared at Ron and Hermione. Ron could tell he was expecting to be attacked. He slid the middle desk drawer open, and removed something. "I was told to give you this. I wasn't told about a password."

J. D. opened the hand that he had on his cane while still holdng it. Kingsley silently passed him the object. Ron could see it was a simple Muggle paperclip.

J. D. grasped it in his hand before speaking again. "I am glad we have all that out of the way. Now, before I give you what I was sent to deliver. I picked up a couple of things on the way from the Airport. That is one of the reasons why we are so late." As he was speaking, he removed his wand from Draco's throat and stored it in his cane's handle. He started to remove his backpack

Ron noticed that Draco still hadn't moved. It wasn't until this moment that he realized that Draco hadn't moved the entire time that J. D. had his wand at his throat. "What's wrong with Draco is he paralyzed?" asked Ron. It was then that everyone else noticed the same thing.

"Ya, he is. I find it easier to do that in these type of situations," stated J. D. He waved his hand past Draco, who suddenly relaxed and almost collapsed onto the floor. "I was wondering if ya'll sent anyone else to the Airport with Ron and Hermione?"

Trask glanced at Draco. It was barely noticable. Ron noticed it, and he was sure that Kingsley also noticed it. "No, you didn't send anyone did you, Shacklebolt?" stated Trask.

Ron could see Kingsley trying to suppress his rage at Trask. He let out a long sigh before speaking. "No sir, I didn't'.

"Really, that's good, because I caught these two following us," he stated. He reached into his rucksack and pulled two wizards out by the hair. Everyone spoke at once when Theodore Nott and Gregory Goyle appeared out of the rucksack. "I take it they ain't members of the Ministry," said J. D.

"They are wanted Death Eaters," exclaimed Ron. "How did… wait, you caught them when you went to the loo at the store."

"I went where?"

"The bathroom!"

"Ya and no, I – what is ya'll call it – Apparated out of there to where they were watching us and captured them."

"How?"

"I can't get into details, but it is something I can do. However, I still need to show what else I have for you Brits." He dropped Nott and Goyle unceremoniously on the floor and walked to his trunk. Ron and Hermione moved to an open spot of the already crowded room. J. D. placed his hand over the keyhole and mumbled an incantation. The trunk lid opened, and he reached in and pulled out by the hair Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange. Everyone in the room gasped at the sight of four Death Eaters who have eluded capture for five years lying on the floor.

"Well. Well , Well, isn't this interesting," said Trask. "Four of the ten most wanted criminals in England. Brought in by an American, and two were caught right under the nose of one of our own Aurors. I guess this just shows the inefficiency that this department is wallowing in," Trask stated pompously. "Might I ask how long you are in England, Mr. Jones?"

"Until these two are put into prison," he said, as he poked Bellatrix and Rodolpus with his cane. "They already been sentenced to life in the U. S., but we decided to let jolly old England have them. If ya don't put them in prison, than I shall take them back to the States to serve their time there."

"While you are here, I would like to get your professional opinion on how to run a Law Enforcement Department," said Trask in an oily voice.

J. D. thought for second before answering. "Well, I was hopin' to be out of here before August. I guess as long as it doesn't take much longer than that then it'll be fine."

"Follow me please, and we can discuss this further in my office." He motioned for J. D. to follow him out of the office along with Draco. "Shacklebolt, Weasley take care of this rubbish the floor."

"Excuse me, but are you planning on taking him with you?" asked Kingsley while jabbing a thumb towards Dawlish, who was still stuck to the wall of the office.

"Mr. Jones, you can release him. I will insure your safety while you are here in England," said Trask.

"Shit," said J. D. drawing out the word so it had more than one syllable. "I thought he might make a nice piece of art work." Waving his wand towards Dawlish, the magical bonds were broken, and, unlike Draco, Dawlish clumsily fell to the floor.

Dawlish picked up his wand and followed Trask, Draco, and J. D. out of the office. All the time he was glaring at J. D. as though he wanted to curse the American.

Ron and Hermione looked at Kingsley who seemed to breathe a huge sigh of relief, before holding his hand up to them indicating that they should stay. He left the office to the cubicle section of the department. He returned with the rest of the Aurors.

"Take these Death Eaters down to the holding cells and try to revive them," ordered Kingsley. After the four Death Eaters were levitated out of the office, Kngsley closed the door and pulled a blind over the one window. He walked over to his traveling cloak and pulled something out of the one pockets. He sat behind his desk and placed a bottle of Firewiskey on the desktop. He conjured three glasses.

"Err – uh- Kingsley it is only ten in the morning," stuttered Hermione.

He smiled as he poured himself a glass, and offered Ron and Hermione one also. Ron really didn't want to be caught drinking at work, but he was totally surprised by his bosses actions. "No thank you," he stated. Hermione never was a fan of Firewhiskey, and she never drank this early in the morning.

Kingsley took a sip before setting his glass back down. "I thought I had lost you two this morning and had broken my promise to protect the Weaselys'," he stated and staring at Ron.

"What?" aksed Ron.

"Well, first off, I think that is the agent that my cousin told me about the last time I was in the America's."

"Why, what did your cousin tell you about him?" asked Hermione.

Kingsley stared at the glass on his desk as though he was debating whether to take another drink or not. He raised his eyes up to meet Ron's. "The last time I was at Jerome's. He was telling me about a Covert Op agent that went mental on an assignment that went bad. By the time this agent had calmed down he had killed forty wizards. I think that J. D. is that agent. Jerome told me that he was given the nickname "The Angel of Death".

Hermione was now digging her fingernails into Ron's arms. "Why didn't anyone stop him, before he killed so many innocent victims?" asked a shocked Hermione.

Kingsley laughed at her question. "I didn't say they were innocent. They were all Dark Wizards. They had held a young girl hostage, and then killed her even when her parents delivered the ransom. The American family had been vacationing in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, when the daughter was taken from them. The USMG sent this agent and another one down, but the Mexican authorities refused to let them do anything but remain in reserve. When the daughter was killed, the wizards all fled to different parts of Mexico. This agent hunted them down and killed each one within a two week time period.

"The last four had turned themselves in to the Mexican authorities in hopes to keep themselves alive even if it was in a prison. He went into their high securtity and killed them, and walked right back out. If he sets his mind on something he accomplishes the task."

"Why would your cousin employ someone who likes to kill so much? He doesn't sanction assassination does he?" questioned Ron.

"He has only done something like that once. He normally bring his fugitives in alive as you can see by the four he brought to us today. It is just that if something happens to set him off…" Kingsley stopped talking and finished his Firewhiskey. "We came close to being all dead today; thanks to that bugger, Dawlish." His mood suddenly changed. "Hey, we aren't so that is something to be happy about."

"Sir, what did you mean by your promise to protect the Weasely's?" asked Ron. He was curious about the answer.

Kingsley stood up and returned the bottle to his traveling cloak. "After your father's funeral, Alastor and I promised Authur that we would do anything we could to ensure that Molly never had to bury another child." He smiled at Ron. "I even considered firing you as an Auror, because that would further guarantee your safety. However, you are my best Auror, so I guess you're here for as long as you want or until Trask finds replacements for us."


	9. Allies Revealed

Hermione was relaxing in the sitting room of the Burrow reading a textbook. Mrs. Weasley had just finished the breakfast dishes in the kitchen. Hermione offered to help her every day for the past month, but she steadfastly refuses. So Hermione resigned herself to sit and study as though she was still teaching. Every summer she would reread the Transfiguration textbooks and any other books that they referenced. She was presently working on the fifth year's curriculum.

She realized that she won't be hired at Hogwarts, but she doesn't have anything else to do. Therefore, she was studying and researching to occupy her mind. Every time she tried to help her mother-in-law, Mrs. Weasley told her never mind, "Cause she enjoys it." Ron and she believed his Mum worked like this because she hated sitting in this house with nothing to do but think and remember. On the weekends, they worked outside in the garden trimming the grass and de-gnoming. Many of the vegetables are getting ready to be picked, so eventually she will be allowed to help with those.

She had applied at the Ministry for several different jobs, but no one offered to hire her in any of the departments. She is worried about Ron, in the Auror department. When he returned with Moody's body two weeks ago, Dawlish seemed to be upset with him. Ron kept saying it was because he didn't die also. Then the following Monday, they brought J. D. Jones into the Ministry with his four captives, and everything turned upside down.

He captured Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange in America, and while bringing them back to England he captured Nott and Goyle. Trask and Minister Selwyn now have him looking over the records and procedures of the Aurors and the entire Ministry to see what improvements could be made. Ron had been assigned as his assistant on top of rewriting the Auror records that had been eaten by Doxies.

Hermione was staring at a particular page without even reading it. Her mind was with her husband and how his day was going. She was snapped out of her thoughts by her mother-in-law. Mrs. Weasley had walked into the sitting room and cleared her throat to get Hermione's attention. "An Owl just arrived with a message for you," she said with a shaky voice. She held a rolled up piece of parchment in her hand.

Hermione stood up and walked to her and took the parchment from her hand. It had a funny feel to it. It felt old, thick, and well worn, as if it had been carried around in someone's pocket for years. There were three ribbons, with a wax seal on each of them, keeping the parchment rolled up. She broke them only to find another wax seal in the middle of the parchment. This one had a strange indentation in it. It looked as if someone had pushed a thumbprint into the hot wax.

Pressing on the sides of the wax seal she tried to crack it to unroll the parchment. It wouldn't budge. She pressed hard again pressing at the ends of the elongated seal and still it wouldn't break. Then she tried pressing down firmly into the depression to break the seal. When her thumb pressed into the depression, she felt a jolt of magic course through her. Gasping and pulling her hands away from the parchment, she dropped it and felt Mrs. Weasley's hand tighten on her upper arm.

"What's wrong, dear?" gasped Mrs. Weasley.

"I … I felt something magical when I opened the seal," replied Hermione. "It caught me by surprise." The seal had shattered when her thumb had contacted the wax. The parchment now laid on the floor unrolled. She bent down to read it; fearful of picking it up again. She could feel Mrs. Weasley right beside her as she bent over and looked at it. There was writing on it, and in a style that she thought she recognized.

 _Go to the Salty Dog, on Madeira Road in Plymouth, this evening around five and order medium Fish and chips. Leave and walk towards Hoe Park, I will find you. You can bring Ron. Bring the parchment, all will be revealed to you._

 _A fellow DA member._

Hermione stood there in the archway between the sitting room and the kitchen staring at the parchment on the floor. This strange parchment and message made her feel funny. With everything that has happened the past several weeks, she assumed this was a trap for her and Ron.

"Don't go, dear!" The sound of Ms. Weasley's voice in her ear made her jump. "It is probably a trap. You shouldn't go."

Hermione looked at the parchment. She felt the same as her mother-in-law, but there was that possibility that it was from a friend or an ally. The handwriting seemed to be strangely familiar. "I know it might be a trap, but it might also be from an actual DA member."

"Let's contact Bill," stated Mrs. Weasley. She didn't wait for Hermione to respond, but went to the fireplace and threw in some Floo powder. Sticking her head into the flames, Hermione could hear her yelling for her oldest son. After a few minutes, she pulled her head out of the flames. She spoke to Hermione while brushing the ash out of her hair. "Bill is at work. Fleur is going to contact him. It will be a few minutes before he can come over here."

Hermione sat at the kitchen table and looked down at the parchment on the floor. Having Bill come over helped ease her mind, because he was a Curse Breaker for Gringotts. The parchment had magical properties to it, but, whether they are Dark Magic, she couldn't tell. She wanted to go to this place earlier in the day, to see the lay out of the neighborhood. It could be in a deserted section of the city, and the eating establishment could be nonexistent. Even with all the circumstances pointing to an ambush, she still had a feeling that she should go. It all centered on the fact that she knows the handwriting and it could be someone from the DA.

"Hermione!" Fleur's voice brought her out of her thoughts. Her head was sticking out of the fireplace. "Bill cannot leave work. The goblinz are in a particularly foul mood towardz wizards right now. 'ere," Fleur dropped a piece of parchment on the kitchen floor. "It eez enchanted, so you can write to him. He will be able to respond without any of the Goblins knowing what eez going on. Sorry, it eez the best we can do." Her head disappeared back into the green flames.

Mrs. Weasley picked up the parchment and handed it to her. It felt thick and old like the parchment that was sent to her. Picking up a quill, she wrote.

 _Hello Bill, I received a scroll today by an unknown Owl. When I picked it up, I felt a jabbing sensation in my fingers and then the parchment became warm. The parchment is magical. I need to find out if it is cursed by Dark Magic."_

She laid the quill down and waited for a response. The seconds ticked by and they felt like minutes to her. The two women sat at the table staring at the parchment waiting for his response. After what seemed like an hour, her writing disappeared and Bill's writing replaced it.

 _It sounds like an identity charm. Someone charmed the scroll, so that only you could open it. The spell itself isn't dark, but to perform it, the caster must have a small piece of you; hair, nails, skin, or blood. Whoever sent it is close to you or has access to you. Be careful about using the parchment; don't write on it until it has been checked for curses. I will be by this evening to check it._

 _Bill_

Hermione sighed at the last statement. She couldn't wait until evening. If she was going to find out who sent this, she needed the scroll checked now. She picked up the quill and wrote a response. As soon as her quill touched the parchment, Bill's writing disappeared. Setting her quill down, she sat back and waited. If her wait for the first response was long and agonizing, this one was excruciatingly longer. She had had two cups of tea before Bill's scrawl appeared. Reading the message, she was encouraged. Bill had told her of several spells that she should perform to check for curses on the parchment. He had Owled Fleur and she should be over with the books that contained the spells. He also sent an Owl to Fred and George. One of them is suppose to be over to help her.

Fleur appeared out of the fireplace with Celeste in her arms and Fabian standing holding tight onto her leg. She had several books clutched in her arm and Fabian was even holding a book. They dumped them on the kitchen table in front of Hermione. She hadn't opened the first book, before George came through the kitchen door asking what was going on. With in fifteen minutes Hermione briefed George and Fleur about the parchment. George left again to find Remus, before going to survey this place. Fleur and Molly helped her to look through the books to find the spells she had to use to check the parchment.

They had seven hours to determine if this was a friend or foe.

[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]

Ron sat in the Aurors department starring at J. D. Jones. The past two weeks he had been this man's servant. Besides rewriting the Auror archives, he had to run errands for him. It seemed that Trask and Minister Selwyn wanted this man to improve the way the Ministry was run, or more specifically the Magical Law Enforcement branch of the Ministry. Ron and Kingsley firmly believe that they want this man to convert the Magical Law Enforcement Department into something like the American Covert Ops Division. Despite their insistance, he didn't do that immediately. Instead he has been spending all his time researching the British Ministries methods of law enforcement.

The first week and a half Ron had to get him records of Auror and Hitwizard cases, both open and closed, for the past ten years. At first, Ron almost laughed at him requesting these records, because how could a blind man read them. However, when Ron handed him the records, he pulled out his wand and ran the tip of it over the pages, as though he was seeing from the tip of his wand. He had conjured a huge light that shone down on the parchment. It was to help him pick up the words better with his wand. He was able to 'read' nealy two years of records in a single day. It was amazing to observe him doing this. He would sit at his table for hours, without moving, running his wand back and forth across the parchments.

The past several days, he has been reading summaries of the Wizangamot proceedings of the past ten years. Ron had no idea how anyone could contain that much information in their head. He never asked for any records back, nor did he ever write any notes about what he read. Every day he would appear in the Atrium and walk down to the Aurors department, by himself. It seemed like he could memorize a building with just one walk through. He would sit down at his table, place an attaché case down on the floor beside him, and start 'reading'. He would occasionally use the loo or get a snack out of the case, but other than his half hour lunch break, he spent from eight in the morning to five at night looking through records. The only other person he had ever seen read with this much diligence was Hermione.

Today he requested something that shocked Ron. He wanted Daily Prophets from the past ten years again. He has been quickly going through them, his wand just barely spending any time on the pages, unless he found something interesting. The three things he seemed to be interested in were Albus Dumbledore, Lord Voldemort, and Harry. Ron had observed every time his wand passed over an article with their names in it. He would slow down as though he was reading it more carefully.

Kingsley appeared beside Ron's desk. "I just received and owl from Gringotts. I will be going to the Burrow with you, tonight."

Ron looked up at him in shock. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know, but it requested that I go, so it must be something important." Kingsley nodded at the American. "How are things going here?"

"All right, I guess. He has been reading more information than even Hermione could. I have no idea how he can do that."

"Has he been meeting with the Minister?"

"No, he just sits there all day reading reports of cases, Ministry procedures, and Wizengamot hearings. He asked me several days ago about the Auror handbook. He wanted to know how closely we follow the book in the field."

"What did you tell him?"

"Only when it is convenient and if it applies to our case," laughed Ron. Kingsley looked down at him with a disapproving glare. "J.D. just said that it sounds like what happens in America. He doesn't seem to be too foul of a bloke."

"My cousin finally contacted me about this agent of his. He told me that he captured Bellatrix and Rodolphus, so he thought it to be best to bring them to us. He also said that he was the agent that went mental in Mexico. However, he hasn't done anything like that since, and he is there best agent. Over the past four years he has been responsible for the capture or elimination of over one hundred Dark Wizards and Witches."

Ron turned and stared at him. "Blimey, a hundred?"

"Yes, even though he is blind. He is the best tracker that Jerome has ever seen, even better that the man that taught him. He also contracts out to other governments when the USMG doesn't have any work for him. Some of those hundred were for other Ministries. I just hope he doesn't turn on us or more precisely start helping Selwyn, Trask, and Malfoy. We could be in trouble." Kingsley had whispered this last statement. "I will meet you at the Flooes after work. Don't be late…" he hesitated before leaving. "…we are not allowed to work overtime."

Ron watched as Kingsley walked back toward his office. He had a little more writing to do on today's batch of records. As he completed his assignment, he looked over at the American. He wasn't nearly the berk the past two weeks as he had been when he first arrived. He seemed like a decent fellow. Maybe what impressed him was how J.D. refused to leave his desk and stop researching to meet with Draco, Trask, or even the Minister. Ron could overhear them talk. J.D. would tell them that he had too much work to do.

Checking his watch, Ron saw that it was time to finish up for the day. He looked over to see J. D. pushing the last stack of Daily Prophets away from him. He walked over to collect the papers and take them back to the archive section. "Hey mate, while I am in the archives, what should I tell them to get ready for you tomorrow?" asked Ron, in friendly conversation.

"Nothin', there Bubba, I am done readin' for now," responded J. D. in a casual manner. "I read that you were best buds with Harry Potter."

"Yeah, that's right." Ron's response was tense and clipped.

"I was wondering if you could give me the 411 on him, Dumbledore, and Voldemort."

"What?"

"The 411… Oh, wait a minute. You're clueless what a 411 call is," stated J. D. "You have no clue what directory assistance is, do you? I need information on Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore, and Lord Voldemort."

"Why do you need that?" Ron didn't intend for his voice to sound so hard and suspicious, but he has always been on the defensive when someone asked about Harry.

"They seem to be central to your Ministry for the past ten years. More than half of all the laws, decisions, and legal cases directly or indirectly involved them. I also noticed your local rags tendency towards yellow journalism, so I would like another more personal point of view on the matter. I also will want to go to Hogwarts and several other magical communities the next few days. As you stated about the Auror manual, it doesn't do any good to make laws and procedures that don't apply. If I am going to come up with recommendations to improve the Ministry's Law Department then I will need to know more about your society, then what was written in those papers."

Ron picked up the entire stack of papers. He still had to give his wand to Dawlish everyday, so he couldn't use magic to help him take the large stack of _Daily Prophets_ back to the archives. "I'll tell you about them. Harry was the best person I've ever met. Dumbledore was the smartest, and Voldemort the most evil. That should be enough to go on." Ron turned and left J. D. laughing at his response.

[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]

When Ron appeared in the fireplace at the Burrow, he stopped dead in his tracks. The kitchen had been transformed into a war room. There was a large map covering the table. It had been charmed to be topographical. Hermione was across from him pointing out something to Andy and Ted Tonks. His mum was standing to his right staring at the map intently, while Bill and Fleur were to his left also doing the same. Fred and Remus were still in the kitchen and was standing behind the Tonks. They, Hermione, and the Tonks were dressed in Muggle clothing. Ron was able to take all this in in a split second before Hermione looked up at him in the Floo.

"Ron," she started saying pleasantly, before gasping and yelling. "Watch out!"

Ron realized at the same time why she was yelling. Green flames shot out around him, as Kingsley Flooed into the Burrow. Ron couldn't step forward fast enough to avoid Kingsley from landing on his shoulders. Ron was propelled forward towards the table. Hermione's quick wand stopped him from smashing his face into the kitchen table.

He looked at his wife and started to say thanks, but she cut him off.

"Ron, you need to get upstairs and get your Muggle outfit on. We need to leave in ten minutes, if we are to arrive on time."

"What do you mean arrive on time?" snapped Ron. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he didn't like it already.

Hermione huffed and rolled her eyes. "I received a parchment saying to meet someone in Plymouth at this Hoe Park," she said pointing at the map. "Fred and Remus…"

"Actually it was George," said Fred from behind Andy Tonks.

"Whatever, they went and checked the area out and drew this map. Remus tried to charm it like the Marauders Map, but it doesn't seem to be working that well."

"I tried, but Prongs was the one that actually cast most of the spells," apologized Remus.

Ron looked down at the map. It wasn't as nice and detailed as the ones they had used before, but it was adequate. Dean Thomas had been the map maker during the war, because he was the best artist. No one has heard from him since he and Seamus parted ways in Morocco. Seamus figured he stayed behind to marry some local beauty working in an apothecary.

Kingsley by this time was standing staring down at the map. "Who was the parchment from?" the Head Auror asked.

"We don't know, but it specifically asked for Ron and me. It was signed from a DA member," stated Hermione. She nodded to Remus, Fred, Andromeda, and Ted. They all turned and walked out the back door towards the edge of the wards.

"All right, Hermione, come with me," ordered Ron, as he walked towards the stairs. "I need the parchment and all the information before I leave."

Hermione crossed her arms and stared at him. Her facial expression was one of a very determined person. "I must go, Ron. I can update you when we reach Plymouth."

"NO! You are not going. Now do as I say…" Ron never got the chance to finish.

"YOU WILL NOT ORDER ME AROUND RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY!" screamed Hermione. "I MUST GO! THE PARCHMENT HAS AN IDENTITY CHARM ON IT…"

"NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! I WILL GO AND YOU CAN WATCH FROM HERE. THIS COULD BE ANOTHER TRAP…"

"WHAT? YOU WANT ME TO STAY HERE AND WATCH MY HUSBAND DIE ON A PIECE OF PARCHMENT? IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT, RON?"

"ENOUGH!" shouted Mrs. Weasley. Her years of commanding her seven children gave her the commanding voice to stop such a loud shouting match. "Ron, Hermione must go, and, besides, you are disturbing the children," she stated, before looking at the doorway where Fabian, Bill's eldest, stood.

"It's alright Gandmamma. Mum and Dad talk like that," reassured the little boy. "I's used to it."

Bill and Fleur turned a bright red and the rest of the adults tried to contain their laughter. "That may be so," said Mrs. Weasley while trying to suppress her own laughter. "Ron, there are security measures already in place. You two are wasting time fighting like that. Save it for the Other Ones."

Ron and Hermione looked at each other realizing that they were both fighting about the same thing. They wanted to make sure that the other was safe. Their Mum was right; they should be saving it for the Other Ones, those nameless and faceless people who are trying to kill them. Without saying anything, Ron ran upstairs and quickly changed his clothes. He ran back down the stairs trying to straighten everything out. Hermione had him looking clean and pressed with a couple passes of her wand. Once he was presentable, they started walking towards the edge of the wards.

"All right, what is the plan, dear?" asked Ron, as they walked. Hermione briefed him on the events of the day: receiving the scroll, determining that it wasn't cursed with dark Magic, George and Remus going to the area to assess dangers and the plan that they had in place if it was a trap. They had this conversation as they walked to the edge of the wards, while they Apparated, and as they walked through the streets of Plymouth.

They appeared two blocks from the Salty Dog. While Hermione was updating Ron, they walked past the shoppe twice, and didn't see anything sinister or threatening. It was an older building and seemed a bit rundown. They walked through the front door and the smell of fried fish and chips made Ron's stomach grumble loudly. Hermione looked at him and chuckled.

The interior was austere, but clean. It wasn't a fancy chain, but an old fashioned restaurant. The inside of the shop was small. It had seating for maybe ten people. Many of the customers were taking their food orders to go. There were ten people in front of them waiting for their orders. While standing there Hermione surveyed the menu displays. They had deep fried fish or seafood along with chips. Not a great variety, but what they made smelled very good.

A young woman dressed in sailors clothing with blond-hair sticking out under her sailor's cap and pulled back into a braid was standing behind the counter, when it was their turn to order. They had barely said anything when she said, "Two medium fish and chips to go. You know Hoe Park is particularly nice this time of year. There is a man who is exceptional at raising flowers down there. You should be able to get some for your wife, sir. That will be seven pounds, please."

Hermione paid the girl with a ten-pound note. She and Ron exchanged nervous glances while waiting for their food to be packed into containers. The girl hadn't given Hermione her change until she came back with the food. She handed Ron the food and Hermione the change. Hermione looked down at her hand to see if the change was correct, when she did she saw a large gold coin, with a small note attached to it, in with her change. She quickly pocketed the change and pulled Ron to the door.

They turned and started walking towards the park at a fast pace, Ron was looking at his wife out of the corner of his eye. "You should slow down. We are drawing people's attention."

"What? Yeah, you are right. Sorry." She looked as confused as she sounded.

Trying to look casual and not showing his concern for his wife's strange behaviour. Ron looked forward while talking casually to her, "What exactly is wrong? You are all out of sorts now, dear."

"There was a DA galleon in the change she gave me," whispered Hermione nervously. "It had a note attached to it that said 'don't use'."

Ron stopped and looked at her for a second before picking up his pace again. Before entering the park, they saw Andy and Ted Tonks sitting on a bench watching them. They entered the park and started to look for someone selling flowers. The park was very large covering several city blocks. They walked aimlessly through it looking around while eating their dinners. After several minutes, they saw a man selling flowers out of a pushcart. From a distance, he looked vaguely familiar. He had long red-hair that hung loosely around his shoulders. He wasn't particularly tall, but he wasn't short either. They couldn't see his face and his frame was hidden, because he was wearing a yellow Macintosh, even though it wasn't raining. The Macintosh looked even stranger combined with his Wellington boots. They approached him and Ron asked for some flowers. The man turned and looked at them. They immediately recognized his face, Neville Longbottom.

"Here you are," he said, as he handed them a bouquet of flowers. "You are being watched," he whispered, as he looked down to his hand to make change. "Go up that path behind you and stop where the paths cross to finish your meals." Neville looked impassively at them as he handed them their change. "Pull the parchment out and act like you are reading it."

Ron and Hermione walked away from the flower cart in a daze. Receiving that Galleon from the counter person at the Fish place was a small shock. Seeing Neville in disguise selling flowers in Plymouth, made their heads spin. They followed the path and came to a crossroads out of sight of Neville's flower cart. There were no benches available so the couple sat down to finish their meals. She pulled out the parchment from her little magical purse, and pretended to show Ron what was written on it. They had stared at it for less than a minute when the message suddenly disappeared, and a new one started to scrawl across the page.

 _Hello Hermione and Ron,_

 _I am Colin Creevey. If you have any doubts. Hermione, do you still have that picture of Ron I got for you in my fifth year?_

Ron looked at the message, and then his wife whose face was bright pink. The message disappeared again to be replaced by another one.

 _By the looks of your face, it appears you do. We need to meet, but not right now. You are in danger and we are all being watched by the Ministry, along with every member of the DA. There are Disillusioned people in this square. I will write to you later tonight. Be someplace secure._

 _PS I am to your right on a bench going over a betting sheet for a turf accountant._

They casually looked over and there on the bench was a young man with a newspaper folded up, and writing on another sheet of paper lying on his newspaper. Colin stood up a couple of seconds later and walked away. Ron and Hermione finished their dinner and waited for a few more minutes before getting up to leave.

Ron kept looking from side to side, trying to look for anyone following him. Hermione walked straight ahead while she was deep in thought. Ron had to stop her from running into people several times, as they worked their way back to the Apparation point.

Later that evening after a typical Weasley supper, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Remus, Kingsley, Bill, Fleur, and Mrs. Weasley were all sitting around the kitchen table at the Burrow staring at the enchanted parchment. Hermione told them everything that happened. She handed them the DA Galleon and explained that she had enchanted them in her fifth year. Why would they put a note on it – don't use. When she told them that they were supposedly followed and it might be people from the Ministry. Everyone reflexively looked at Kingsley.

"What? You lot think that I put the tail on them, or that someone would tell me that they are following two of my friends?" he joked. "Seriously, Hermione, don't put total faith in this piece of parchment. Someone could take it from him and lead you into a trap."

"I know Kingsley, but…" Hermione never finished talking before Bill interrupted.

"It has an identity charm on it. Only Hermione would be able to write on this one, and I imagine that only Colin would be able to write on the other one."

"I am planning to be cautious no matter, Bill," reassured Hermione. "What has me concerned are these people, who have been systematically killing off Order members, now targeting DA members?" She looked at Fred, Ron, and George. The writing on the parchment disappeared and new writing started to form.

 _Hermione,_

 _When you see this please write back immediately._

 _Colin._

Hermione looked at the parchment and then to everyone staring at the new message. Without saying anything, she started to write.

 _All right there Colin?_

Colin must have been staring at the parchment waiting for an answer, because he replied immediately.

 _Yes, I am sorry about not meeting you face to face, but I noticed Disillusioned people moving around in the park. We must be careful. There is a spy in the Ministry that is passing information to me. I don't know who it is, but so far, the intel has been accurate._

 _Hermione, the people controlling the Ministry want to kill us. By us, I mean the Order of the Phoenix and the DA. The Minister is not the one controlling the Ministry right now. He is being controlled by some group called the Counsel of Six. Dagmar won't even go to the loo if the council forbids it. No one knows what this Council is up to, but it can't be good. Try to think of a good place and time to meet. Most of the DA members that I keep in contact with are available at night. Good Luck!_

Hermione looked up from the parchment. Most everyone had been reading the message also. They started to discuss what would be the best place to meet and when. Hermione and Colin wrote back and forth to each other, as the rest debated whether to use the Burrow or anyone elses home, to meet in a public area with many people around or a secluded location, and should they get a method of communication similar to the galleons.

After an hour of debating, they finally decided to meet at a secluded location in Scotland, and they were going to recharm other galleons. Ginny had Harry's galleon. Colin wrote that the spy believes that the Ministry has one of the original galleons. It was also decided that the joke shop would become a good location for the members to report any updates.

After the ground work for the New DA was finalized, everyone was sitting around the table talking animatatedly about this Council of Six. Everyone seemed to think of different individuals who would be on it, except Lucius Malfoy. Everyone believed him to be one of the members; after all, it involved Pureblood superiority and gold.

"I wonder who the spy is?" asked Kingsley, as he prepared to leaveto go home. His wife had Floo called Mrs. Weasley a half an hour ago. Everyone seemed to mumble an answer as they tried to remember members of the DA who would be able to do this.

Remus looked up at all of them. "Could it be Ginny?" he asked.

"Why would she contact Colin like this?" asked Bill. He seemed to take Ginny dating Draco worse than all of them.

Remus laughed at his comment. "Would anyone of us believe her, if she contacted us?


	10. A Strange Dinner Guest

Ginny balled up this morning's edition of the Daily Prophet and threw it into the fireplace. A loud scream and curses about Minister Selwyn rattled off the walls of Grimmauld's sitting room. She had just read about the new tax that the Minister had pushed through the Wizengamot. It was a flat tax. The Financial and Commerce Department had done a study and determined that operating the Ministry and providing services to the magical community costs the equivalent of one thousand galleons per magical person per year. The Minister and his pinheaded wisdom have thus demanded that each individual pay their share.

Magical businesses were not forgotten in this mockery. Each business that sold magical goods or operated in any solely magical area had to pay a tax of five thousand galleons a year. They had dropped all the taxes on property owners because these new taxes would be sufficient to operate the Ministry in black ink.

Most of the magical families in Britain would not be able to pay these taxes. The injustice of it was a young family of four while trying to run a shop anywhere in Britain would be liable for nine thousand galleons a year in taxes. That is more gold than many of them make, and even if they could afford it, it would leave them so poor they would have a hard time feeding and clothing their children. What would happen to the families that couldn't afford the taxes, would the Ministry forbid them from using magic, or would they put a lien on their homes and eventually throw them out in the street. The sheer heartlessness of this latest development has her blood boiling. Some of the greatest wizards and witches in the history of Britian have started out poor, and many remained poor because they didn't value money. Unlike these greedy sods that are running things now.

Ginny ran up the stairs to her study. She grabbed a piece of parchment and started writing a letter to the Goblins at Gringotts. She needed to contact them about the Harry Potter Memorial Fund. It had been created to help victims of the war with Voldemort. Many of the people who had received money paid it back after they got back on their feet financially. The fund was not set to be a loan service demanding repayment, but they were so grateful that they did it anyway. The fund was now the largest vault in Gringotts, and she was the trustee over it. Now that the Ministry wants to bankrupt most of magical Britain, she's going to reassign the use of the funds. She has more than enough gold in her personal vault to last her a lifetime, so this will be no hardship for her. Even if she must give all the gold out of her personal vault she would. She grew up poor and finds no shame in it.

After sending the letter to Gringotts, she walked back down to the sitting room. It was a bland overcast day. One that was neither warm nor cold. It wasn't raining, but the sky was a solid layer of pewter coloured clouds. She had thought about flying today, but the lousy weather made her want to do nothing but sit inside and read. She curled up with a textbook in her favorite chair in front of the large window looking out over Grimmauld Square.

The Square had changed dramatically over the past five years. It had once been a forgotten bleak eyesore. Overgrown with old trees, rusting and broken park benches, and the lighting was terrible. It matched the rest of the Muggle dwellings surrounding it. In the past five years, it changed dramatically. It wasn't the most fashionable place to live in London now, but it was much nicer, brighter, and safer for the families living around there.

Four years ago, the Muggles cut down all the trees and took away all the old dilapidated benches and gates in the park. They even hauled in soil and planted grass in the square. They put in a playground, park benches, and good lighting. Now there were no dark sections of the street, and a bobby can be seen patrolling the streets all hours of the day. They even made the residents clean up their gardens and houses. There wasn't trash sitting around and the place was actually a cheery place to live. Ginny at times wondered if the defeat of Voldemort had affected Muggle life, if that was the reason why all this happened after he died.

Ginny sat there and read the textbook. It was the newest version of _Standard Book of Spells Level Seven_. She wanted to read it and the recommended _Defensive Spells Level Seven_ , in the next two weeks. After spending most of the day reading, she had read a third of the book, and decided to rest her eyes and watch the children play outside on the playground in the fading evening light. She sat there in her chair watching them through the window, knowing that they couldn't see her. The original Fidelius Charm was broken years ago. She had a new one cast with her as the Secret Keeper.

As she watched the children, something caught her eye; a blind man was walking on the sidewalk across the square. She had never seen a blind man here before, so his presence fascinated her. He looked different, out of place in the present day Grimmauld Square, almost as though he might have lived here before the neighborhood was cleaned up. He had long light brown almost blonde hair and beard, and had a cloth of some type tied over his hair. He wore a long sleeved shirt that was unbuttoned and wasn't tucked into his ragged frayed jeans. He walked using a silver cane with a red tip, and he held an object in his other hand. He seemed to be looking for something.

He walked up the other side of the square and across in front of the houses to her left. At times, he seemed to stop and look right at her. It gave her a strange feeling as though he knew she was there, but that was impossible. He walked back the direction that he came from and stopped in front of a house. He walked up and knocked on the front door. After a time, a man came out and they spoke for several minutes. They kept pointing to things around this man's house and various places around the square. The blind man shook the other man's hand and walked back the direction he came from.

He suddenly stopped and looked directly at Ginny. She was positive that he was looking at her. He was directly across the park from her house. He turned and walked across the park on a straight line to her. She pulled her wand out from her robes and held it tight in her hand. She didn't know why she was so nervous, but this man's actions were upsetting her. He walked up to the front of her house and looked straight ahead. Then he did something that puzzled her, he held his hand out with his palm facing her house and moved it back and forth in front of him, as though he was feeling for something. He turned and walked to her left, while holding his hand, nearest to the house, up. He turned and walked from her left to her right while holding his other hand up. After passing by her property line, he stopped and looked directly at her and stared for several seconds. She couldn't positively tell because his long beard and dark glasses hid his face, but he looked like he smiled. He played with a little black box in his hand, before turning and walking away without looking back.

[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]

Ginny checked her hair and makeup in the entrance hall's mirror. She was going to the Malfoy's tonight for a special dinner. Draco invited her yesterday and told her to dress up because there will be a dignitary from America present. This sounded like a perfect opportunity to listen in on conversations and figure out what Draco and his family knows. This was the first time she had been invited to Malfoy Manor, so she needed to make a good first impression.

Looking in the mirror a final time, she checked her hair once again. She had kept it shorter, but she doesn't feel like cutting it this summer, so she was going to leave it grow for now. It was half way down her neck in the back, and her bangs, which she kept brushed to the one side, just touch her eyebrows. She stood there staring at her reflection in the mirror contemplating the possibility of leaving her hair grow long again. Every time she considers this, she gets a sick feeling in her stomach from remembering him.

After brushing unseen wrinkles out of her elegant black Dress Robes, she stepped out onto the stoop and Disapparated. She landed and nearly stumbled on a dirt and gravel road. Draco had given her coordinates so she could Apparate outside of their wards. Pulling out her wand, she illuminated it and checked her robes.

"You look beautiful, Ginevra," said Draco. He was standing several feet away from her, hidden from sight by a clump of evergreens. "Father will be most impressed."

Ginny extinguished her wand and walked over to Draco. He was very handsome in his traditional black dress robes. His white blonde hair had grown long enough to form a short ponytail, like his fathers. Even in the dim light of the night, his pale face and grey eyes shone with confidence. He was very handsome, and could be quite charming when he wanted to be. The problem with him was you never know when he wanted to be charming and when he wanted to cruel.

"You are looking rather dashing yourself," Ginny told him. "I take it that I am on time for this event."

"Your timing is impeccable." Raising his right arm, he asked, "Shall we?"

"Yes, we shall." Ginny wrapped her arm around his and they walked toward his home. The manor was invisible at first, until they walked through the wards. Suddenly, she saw it sitting high on a hill in front of her. It was a magnificent building with several towers. It reminded her of a small version of Hogwarts. It must be four stories high and almost as wide as it is high. All rooms appeared to have torches burning, as the tall windows were all illuminated.

The gardens surrounding the house were impeccably manicured. They seemed to stretch as far as she can see in the nighttime. Rows of neatly trimmed hedges line the gravel lane that they are walking on and various sections of the garden. The summer breeze was scented with a variety of floral fragrances.

Ginny marveled at the elegance of her surrounding and didn't notice where she was until Draco stopped walking. The front door of the manor was emerald green with silver hardware, a true Slytherin's front door. Draco placed his free hand on the front door and took a deep breath before opening it.

Stepping into this grand house was just as breathtaking as the gardens. The foyer was a large open cube, with a staircase in the center of the back wall and carved double oak doors to rooms on three walls. The ceiling reached to the top of the second floor, and it was as wide and deep as it is tall. A roaring fireplace sat on their right hand side. They stepped in on the highly polished tile floor and closed the front door.

Lucius entered from one of the side rooms. He had a wide smile beaming from his face, as though he is extremely happy, until he saw Ginny standing in the entranceway.

"I told you I was bringing a friend, Father," said Draco forcefully.

Lucius looked down his nose at her and turned to Draco. "Yes – you did. I would like word with you," he said with a strained whisper. He turned and walked into the room he had just exited. Draco hurriedly started following him. Ginny still had a hold of his arm, and walked beside him unnoticed, until Lucius turned around in the doorway and noticed her.

"I meant. Alone!" He grabbed Draco's arm, and yanked him into the room and closed the door.

Ginny looked around and couldn't see anyone, but she didn't want to take the risk of getting caught listening to their conversation. She could hear them talking, but she unable to hear exactly what they were saying. After several minutes, they appeared again. Both Draco and his father had identical smirks on their faces.

"I must apologize for my rudeness; Miss – a – Ms. Potter." Ginny could hear the tension in Lucius' voice as he said the name Potter. "I am expecting an important guest tonight, a high ranking official from the United States Magical Government. I was a little surprised that Draco had invited you to an event that could end up being rather dry and boring for you."

"I understand!" replied Ginny, even though she doubted that that was the reason. "I will try to look interested, even during the driest of conversations."

"Yes, they may become that. Now, why don't we all go to the dining room and await our guest of honor?" Lucius raised his arm and indicated the room directly across the foyer from where they were standing.

As Ginny walked into the room on Draco's arm, his mother who was fussing over the table setting, looked at them and froze for a second before going about her business again. The room had a large banquet table that could easily seat twenty people, but there were only four settings around it. Almost on cue, two house elves entered the room carrying a chair and place setting for Ginny. Narcissa stood there and watched as the two House elves ran around the large table cleaning, and double-checking to make sure everything was taken care of.

This room also had a large fireplace with a roaring fire in it. Draco and she walked over next to the fire. There were portraits of ancestral Malfoys with golden frames adorning the walls of the room. The walls themselves were a dark wood and almost seemed to absorb the excess light. The table and chairs were made of the same wood. She was fascinated by this opulent show of wealth. It gave the impression that they are trying to intimidate their guests with their wealth, instead on making them comfortable.

Draco started to tell her about his relatives in the portraits, until a bang of the doorknocker sounded throughout the house. The Malfoys all looked at each other with shocked expressions, before straightening their robes and making sure their appearances were perfect. Lucius left the dining room for the front door. Ginny could feel Draco getting nervous about something. Whoever this guest was, they must be extremely important. The sound of the front door opening echoed into the room through the open doors.

"Good Evening, Mr. Jones. I hope you were able to find my house easily?" asked Lucius with a smooth oily voice.

"Yep, it wasn't any problem. Hell, can't miss a place this big, now can ya'," answered the guest. Ginny noticed he spoke with a funny accent and had a lisp.

Ginny tried to hear more of their conversation, but Narcissa hurried over and asked Draco if the wards were still up. He said that they were when he went out earlier. His mother looked shocked, and turned to await the arrival of this Mr. Jones.

Ginny heard their footsteps in the foyer coming closer to the dining room doors, but there was another sound, a light scraping sound. She tried to get an image of what an American would look like with that type of an accent, and an image of a large fat man with a wide brim cowboy hat and boots came to mind. When this mysterious Mr. Jones appeared in the doorway, Ginny's breath caught in her chest. He was the man that was looking at her from the street two days ago.

He appeared to have trimmed his beard and hair. They were both shorter. He had a beige hand-knit jumper on with hunter green trousers and brown leather shoes. He had the same glasses covering his eyes, and the same covering on his head. He stepped in the doorway and tilted his head to the left and right, before exclaiming, "This place sure sounds big!"

Draco smirked at his remark. His father and mother both leered at this man, who couldn't see them. He might make Ginny nervous, but they didn't need to be rude or mocking, just because he's blind.

"Mr. Jones, I would like you to meet my family," said Lucius, in an overly gracious voice. "This is my lovely wife, Narcissa." She walked forward and extended her hand to him. He moved his arm in a slow sweeping arc and found her hand and bent down barely touching it with his lips.

"A pleasure to meet such a fine British Lady, madam."

"This is my son Draco, who I am sure you have met at the Ministry." Draco then walked forward and shook hands.

"Ah yes, how could I ever forget Barrister Malfoy?"

"Narcissa, dear, is dinner ready to be served?" She nodded yes to him and he turned to the American. "Well, let us all sit down to a fine dinner then."

"What about her?" questioned the American pointing his cane towards Ginny. "Is she a guest or a servant?"

"That is my girlfriend, Ginevra – a – Potter." Ginny didn't miss the fact that he almost couldn't say her last name. She walked forward and raised her hand to Mr. Jones. Inside she was nervous and slightly scared, he gently took her hand and bent over to kiss it, but his lips or beard never touched her hand. When he grasped her hand, she noticed that he wore gloves of a smooth cloth almost the same shade as his skin. A feeling started to creep into her as he held her hand. It was a feeling of dread. There was something about this man that wasn't right.

Ginny walked to her place at the table, beside Draco, and sat across from this Mr. Jones. She looked at him. He appeared to be blind, but he seemed to be able to see or sense things that only a sighted person could. He knew she was standing by the fireplace, and she tried to be as quite as possible. There was a great deal more to this man than what you can see from his outward appearance.

"What is it you do for the American Government, Mr. Jones?" asked Ginny. She didn't think such a question would be inappropriate, but the all Malfoy's looked at her with a look of shock on their faces. The American seemed to hesitate and stare at her. A strange feeling, as though he was looking through her, washed over her. He held the stare for only a second, or at least Ginny thought he had.

"I am in law enforcement, sweety," he replied jovially. "I catch the bad guys." Lucius and Draco both smiled at this comment, but Narcissa glared at him with venom.

"Are you an Auror or a Hit-Wizard?"

"Neither actually…"

"Mr. Jones is one of the highest ranking members of an elite section of American Magical Law Enforcement," stated Draco with a pompous air. "He is presently here in England to help us find ways to improve our own Magical Law Enforcement Department."

By this time, the soup had been served. Draco, Lucius, and J.D. talked as they ate. He had insisted that everyone stop calling him Mr. and refer to him as J. D. While everyone was talking Ginny was watching this man eat. He first touched every utensil sitting around his plate. He then picked up a knife and the soupspoon and used them to feel where his plate, the location of his water glass, and teacup was. He did this without looking down and while he was talking and turning his head towards the person talking. He was able to eat most of his soup without spilling a drop, a feat that she can't always do. The salad was served and again with using his utensils to locate the food he was able to deftly and gracefully eat.

"Draco has repeatedly commented about how diligently you have been studying our Auror records for the report that is due in two days. What type of recommendations are you planning to present?" Lucius' question was direct and blunt. Draco stared at his father and looked shocked that he would say such a thing.

J. D. sat back in his chair and placed his utensils down beside his plate, before speaking. "Lucius, I am grateful that you have invited me into your wonderful home tonight for this delicious dinner, but you are not a member of the Ministry. I will not give you any information about my report; to do that would be a breach of ethics." When he said the word 'ethics', Lucius chuckled. "If that was your goal tonight, to get me to reveal to you my findings, then I will ask to be excused."

"No! That was not my goal. I am very interested though in what you have to say." Lucius leaned back in his chair and looked carefully at his guest. "While you have been in England studying our methods of Law Enforcement, I have been finding out a great deal about your methods." As Lucius spoke, the tension increased around the table. Everyone had forgotten the dinner and was watching the conversation with interest. Narcissa slowly moved her hand off the table and into her robes.

As Ginny observed this, she became torn between wanting to jump to this man's defense if the Malfoys were planning to attack him, and sitting back and letting the events unfold to gain their trust. He seemed to be oblivious to the change in attitude around the table.

"So that is what this dinner was about?" commented J. D. calmly. "I seem to run into to two types of people; one type are morbid admirers of my reputation, and the others want to employ me."

"Your reputation?" asked Ginny, for the second time that night she couldn't stop herself from speaking, but the way he said "reputation" felt ominous.

"Yes, Ginevra. His reputation." Lucius smiled as he spoke. "Mr. Jones is possibly the most powerful wizard to walk on English soil in five years."

Ginny felt a tug on her heart, when he mentioned five years, she knew that he wasn't talking about Harry. "Why do you say that," asked Ginny. Looking at the American, she continued the question, "How many people have you killed?" she asked with loathing in her voice. The American seemed to react slightly to her accusation, but he didn't say anything.

"Over forty-five," said Lucius. His voice was filled with admiration at this fact. Ginny heart sunk slightly at the thoughts of sitting at this table surrounded by people who worshipped the dark arts.

"All in the line of duty," was the American's reply. "I don't get sent out to find someone unless they have already killed someone. Most of the time, it was another officer. So, yeh, I have killed over forty-five people in the line of duty, but I have arrested and brought to justice more. I have stopped close to a hundred dark wizards and witches."

Ginny was shocked to hear that this man had arrested or terminated close to one hundred people. Most Aurors arrest maybe three or four suspects a year. "That is incredible. How many years have you been doing this?"

"Four."

"Only four years, America must have a terrible problem with Dark Wizards," she exclaimed.

"No, I work all over the world," chuckled J. D.

"In fact you don't work only for the United States Magical Government, but you also contract yourself out to other counties and occasionally individuals," said Draco. The statement was both a question and a statement.

"Yes, I do. Many of my assignments are sensitive in nature, and if I am thought of as a mercenary, then the USMG can deny that I am working for them." He was getting irritated by this time. Ginny could see it in his body language. He was sitting up straight with his back pressed against the chair's back. He had his left hand on his cane.

"Is that what happened in Mexico?" Lucius questioned him as though he was on a courtroom stand.

"I see that it is time for me to leave." He pushed the chair back from the table, and stood up. "I was on assignment from the USMG. They cleared me. I am goin' home. I do not find discussin' killin' and arrestin' demented wizards and witches to be fine dinner conversation. I will not satisfy your morbid curiosity."

"I am not the type of person who wants to hear tales of your exploits," said Lucius forcefully, as he also stood up. "I am the other type." The two wizards stood there for several seconds as Draco, Narcissa, and Ginny looked on anxiously. Ginny had truly found some information out, but she needed more specifics before she could say anything. She needed details, dates, times, places, and people.

"Y'all want to talk business, fine, but not here," he responded.

"Why don't we retire to my den for some after dinner conversation and drinks," said Lucius with an oily voice. Ginny and Narcissa sat there and watched as Lucius led Draco and J. D. out of the dining room and across the foyer to his den.

Narcissa pulled her wand out of her robes and laid it beside her dinner plate. Ginny sat there not wanting to eat, but to walk over and listen in on the conversation in the den. She picked at the roast beef on her plate while contemplating what to do.

"They may be in the den for quite some time. I will have Nob show you out," said Narcissa cooly.

Ginny didn't know what to do. She couldn't object without raising suspicion, but she didn't want to leave.

"Nob! Brin!" Narcissa shouted. The two house elves appeared on each side of her. She looked at one of them Ginny supposed it was Nob. "Escort Ms. Potter outside of our wards, and…" She never finished what she was going to say as a loud bang was heard from the den. "Go! Both of you! Help your Masters. GO!" she screamed at the elves. They looked at each other and cringed before disappearing with a pop.

Ginny jumped up, pulled her wand, and ran towards the double doors of the den. As she ran, sounds of curses hitting the walls could still be heard. Several of them rattled the windows of the house. She and Narcissa had nearly reached the doors when all sounds of fighting stopped. They also stopped running and tried to listen to what was happening, but they couldn't hear anything. Reaching out they both grabbed the handle on one of the double doors. They pulled the doors open at the same time and pointed their wands into the room.

What they saw shocked them, it was pitch black. No light from the hall was entering the room. All illumination seemed to stop at the doorway. It reminded Ginny of Peruvian Darkness Powder, but it wouldn't act like this. This darkness stops exactly at the doorway.

"This stunt is gonna cost ya there, Slick!" The voice of J. D. could be heard. "If the entire Mexican Law branch can't kill me, than what did yeh think yeh could do? Huh? Y'all are too full of yerselves. You ain't that good."

"But will you take the job?" asked the unmistakable voice of Lucius.

"Yeah, but it will cost ya four million galleons."

"I don't have that type of money!"

"Maybe not, but you can get it."

Ginny probed into the darkness with her wand, and watched as the tip of it disappeared into the inky blackness. "Hold it, Slick. Your ladies are joining the fight now." She suddenly realized that she was detected.

Lucius and Draco yelled at the same time that Narcissa sent a Stunner in the general direction of J. D.'s voice. Ginny also tried to shout Stupefy, but she felt her tongue stick to the roof of her mouth. Suddenly, the wands popped out of their hands and flew into the darkness, and a second later, her tongue became unstuck.

"I will be done with the report in two days. If ya want me to do yer dirty work, than yeh will have my gold by that time. If ya don't, then yeh can do it on yer own."

"I can't possibly…"

"Four days, Slick!"

Suddenly the darkness lifted, the light streaming from the room hurt Ginny's eyes. She couldn't tell if it was from staring into the complete blackness, or the light retained by a spell had built up and escaped all at once, but she was temporarily blinded. When her sight returned, what she saw in the room surprised her. Lucius and Draco were wrapped in some type of magical rope that shimmered as though it was made of diamonds. They lay in front of the desk on the floor, and J. D. was standing above them. He had no wand in his hand just his cane. Around the rest of the room lay ten other wizards and the two house elves. They were also wrapped with the magical bindings, but they had been affixed to the walls and, in some cases, the ceiling, as though a giant spider had wrapped them up and stuck them there.

"You two sweeties aren't gonna try and fight me? Are ya now?" questioned J. D. He was now walking towards them. "I have yer wands." He patted his front pocket of his trousers. "If ya let me pass, I'll return all yer wands to ya'."

Ginny stepped back and let him walk past. As she did, she looked at Narcissa. She had a look of fear on her face. This man had just walked into a trap and fought off twelve wizards and two House Elves in a couple of minutes, and he doesn't even look harmed in any way.

As he walked through the foyer and to the front door, Ginny was still rooted to the same spot. She couldn't comprehend what had happened. He should have been the one bound and lying on the floor, not Lucius and his henchmen.

"The wands will be in the front yard," said J. D. He pulled a clump of wands out of his front pocket, which had to have been magically enlarged. "Y'all have yerself a good night, now."

Even after he closed the door behind him, Ginny still didn't move. When she first saw him at home, she felt something. She wasn't sure if it was fear then, but now it is. This man was a hired killer, who masquerades as an Auror. If the Malfoy's can come up with the gold to buy his loyalty, who was he going to kill? Who would Lucius want killed bad enough to pay four million galleons? She needs to warn the Order. What will she tell them? It could possibly be the remaining Order members. Would they believe her without more proof?

Two loud thuds to her left shocked her out of her thoughts as the magical ropes disappeared suddenly. The two wizards who were attached to the ceiling fell to the floor. Two of the other wizards ran past her towards the front door. Lucius was standing there in the middle of the room giving orders to everyone.

One of the wizards returned from outside. "He is gone. Our wands are scattered across the garden. Sir."

Lucius stopped giving orders and stared for a second before smiling and walking behind his desk to pick up a piece of parchment and a quill. He looked up at Ginny and spoke, "Draco, you may escort your guest to the border of the wards." He sat down and started to write on the parchment.

"Let's go find our wands," said Draco gently, as he offered his arm to her. "I had no idea that my Father was going to do something like this tonight," he said in his cool confident manner. "However, it would be best…" he said forcefully, "…if you not tell anyone about what you saw or heard tonight. Mr. Jones is a very dangerous and cruel person. Aunt Bella told us that he tortured her in America."

"He tortured her? Are you sure?" she asked, as they started walking around the Manor's garden.

"Yes," he spat. "She was barely able to talk and was incoherent for the first week she was back. Ah, I think this is my wand." Draco bent over and picked up a wand off the ground. He held it in his hand and red sparks flew out of the end. "Yes, it is."

He summoned Ginny's wand for her and walked her to the edge of the wards. As they stepped through the wards, the large manor house disappeared behind them. Ginny looked at the protective wards wondering how someone could find this estate without help. "How did he find your house?"

"I don't know, but he meant us no harm."

"How do you get that?"

"The wards also don't let anyone in or out if they are ill intentioned. So once he left without setting of the alarms, then Father knew he was safe."

Ginny stood there and thought about what he had said. It sounds like this J. D. Jones is an ally of the Malfoys. He seems just as cruel. A flash of light in the distance brought her out of her thoughts. In the distance, she could see fireworks. Not any ordinary type either, she could tell that these were wizard's fireworks.

"Merlin, when are they going to stop celebrating," groused Draco, who turned and walked through the wards without a backward glance at Ginny.

A tear started to form in Ginny's eyes. She suddenly realized what Draco was talking about. It was 31st of July; Harry's birthday. It was never made official, but all over the British Isles magical celebrations popped up. As she stood there and watched the distant fireworks move through the night sky, she realized whose they were. Fred and George were setting off their special fireworks designed especially for Harry's birthday. For a second, she thought about Apparating to the valley and watching them, but she didn't feel like seeing the rest of her family and Order members now. Therefore, she turned on the spot and returned to London.

[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]

In a secluded valley, hundreds of wizards and witches stood watching fireworks in honor of their hero, Harry Potter. Every year on his birthday, Weasley Wizard Wheezes sets off hundreds of special fireworks to celebrate the life of their dead friend. Many of them are enchanted to form sparkling images of Harry. There are fireworks that look like him as he first stepped onto the Hogwarts Express, ones that showed him flying on a broom chasing the golden snitch, some were charmed to show him standing with Ron and Hermione, him and Dumbledore, and even holding Ginny.

The valley had been warded so that only magical people would be able to see the fireworks display. Order members and DA mingle among the throng to ensure safety from attacks. There are many celebrations throughout the land this day, but this one is probably the most noteworthy of them all.

Standing amongst a clump of redheads was Ron and Hermione. They had their arms around each other holding and supporting each other. The pain and grief for them was still present. They both still cry at this event. It seemed so cruel that Harry had died after he had finally defeated Voldemort. He was supposed to have been safe when everyone left him.

Outside of the wards on a hill overlooking the valley a man suddenly appeared. He was wearing dark glasses and was carrying a cane with a red tip. He stood there for a second facing the valley. It was almost as though he could see the fireworks lighting up the sky. He slowly lifted his left hand and held it up with his palm facing the valley. He moved it in a slow arc from side to side, until he stopped. Directly in front of his hand was a clump of redheads. With a smile, he raised his cane and drew a shimmering line down the wards in front of him. Stepping through the wards as though they were a closed curtain, he started walking directly towards this clump of redheads, the Weasley's


	11. Surprise!

The Daily Prophet was once again filled with rubbish from the Ministry. Ginny was tired of reading it, but she has been trying to look for indications of what Lucius' plans were. She tried to research the mysterious J.D. Jones, but information on him was sparse to say the least. She even considered that he was a fake, but why would they all go to such extremes to deceive her.

Ginny took a sip of tea and a bite of toast before turning another page of the paper. The news she read over the past two weeks had not been good. The magical population was protesting the new tax laws. Gringotts Goblins tightened security, and even refused to open on various days. The letter she sent them was responded to, but not the type of response she had expected. They said that they could designate the funds to help with magical families burdened by the new tax laws, but when they contacted the Ministry to set up a payment schedule, they were told that would be illegal. The Ministry had other plans to help the poor.

There have been several protests at various magical locations around England in the past two weeks. The Ministry sent members of the Magical Law Enforcement out to quell them. Ginny wondered if Ron and Kingsley were among the MLE's sent out. She could see them siding with the protesters.

Ginny sat the paper aside and picked up a letter that she received from Draco last night. He said that he had a birthday surprise for her, and she should come to the manor at eight o'clock tonight. It was the first correspondence that she received from him, since the dinner at the manor. She had Owled him to ask how his family was getting on, after the attack, but he never responded. The problem with his invitation was she was expected at the Burrow tonight for her birthday dinner. She can't be two places at once, and she needs to find out what his father was planning. Therefore, she will go to the Burrow early and leave to meet Draco.

She had wanted to tell her family or maybe Remus about what happened at the Manor, but she had nothing to tell them that they didn't already suspect. They believed the Malfoy's were involved in the murders of the Order members, and they were all next on the list. She couldn't tell them if Lucius came up with the money to hire that American, so that would be no help. The last remaining detail that has kept her from going to them was the fact that they don't trust her. At times, they seemed to think that she was helping Draco and his father. Nothing could be further from the truth, but there was nothing she could do to change their minds.

[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]

Ginny looked into the mirror on her dressing table. She was once again staring at her hair, noticing how long it was getting. The bangs were now hanging slightly in her eyes and the sides and back are almost to her shoulders. She should leave it grow some more before trimming it again. She couldn't stand the thought of leaving it grow as long as it once was, but maybe a couple more inches more wouldn't be bad.

She looked at her robes and brushed away invisible dust particles. Her nerves were on edge, because she was going back to see her family. It may be her birthday, but she hasn't talked to them since Mad-Eye's funeral. She didn't really talk to them then, either. Part of her wanted to curse them for shunning her, and another part wanted to beg for forgiveness so they would talk to her again. She wasn't sure, which part of her will show up today.

Taking a deep breath, she walked towards the front door's stoop to Apparate. She had always liked walking up to the Burrow. The setting of her childhood home had always been one of her favorite sights. She wasn't asked to arrive until closer to four in the afternoon with guests arriving at five. She needed to leave to get ready for her date tonight, so she was going to arrive a little early. Three hours early to be precise, but it was once her home too. She wouldn't be able to spend much time with her guests tonight, which would be a shame. She had wondered whom they were inviting as guests. Maybe they invited her boyfriend, Draco, wouldn't that be a shock.

She stopped walking as she realized that she had for the first time thought of Draco as her boyfriend. This was supposed to be a relationship of convenience, an opportunity to gather information, not to fall in love, or even care for him. As she opened the door and stepped onto the stoop, she questioned her own feelings and motives in her present relationship.

After the sensation of being squeezed through a hosepipe ceased, the Burrow appeared in front of her, but it didn't look the same. Something was different about it. The wards seemed to have a slight shimmer to them surrounding the house and garden in a gleaming haze. The woods to the left of the property also looked different, what exactly was wrong she couldn't tell. They seemed to be darker and more foreboding than she could ever remember.

As she walked towards the front gate, she contacted the shimmering wards. A strange feeling passed through her. It didn't feel painful or controlling, forgetting about the wards strange affects, she walked to the front gate and opened it. Another feeling started to build in her; it was one of remorse for her father, brothers, and Harry. It was the one reason she doesn't like coming back here. Their loss seemed so real here as opposed to Grimmauld Place. She didn't know why that was, but every time she stepped onto this property she half expected to see her father looking out of the chicken coup to see who it was.

Blinking back tears Ginny knocked on the front door. Waiting several seconds without anyone answering, she opened it and walked in. Looking around the sitting room and kitchen, she saw that she was the only one there. She started to yell for her Mum, but the pictures on the fireplace mantle caught her eye. There sat pictures of her Dad, Charlie, Percy, and Harry. She had taken all the pictures of Harry down in Grimmauld place several years ago. It helped her stop thinking and grieving for him. Every time she would see a picture of him, all she would want to do was stare into those enchanting green eyes.

His eyes were the thing that mesmerized her the most. Something about the intensity of them, it wasn't just their brilliant colour. She could look into his eyes and see into his heart and soul. It was a place that she enjoyed going and always felt safe there, staring into his beautiful green eyes.

Ginny hadn't even realized that she had crossed to the mantle, picked up his picture, and was staring into his eyes, until her mother entered the kitchen and cleared her throat.

"You're early, dear."

"I – a – have some place to –a – go tonight…," she stammered "…so I stopped by early so I could spend time with everyone before I left." Ginny had a hard time looking at her mother while talking to her. She felt awkward and out of sorts here, and telling them that she wouldn't be able to stay made her feel even more distant.

"Where do you have to go? Why can't you cancel your plans, or have anyone you're meeting come here?" questioned her Mother.

"I – uh, it's complicated."

"You're seeing Draco," stated Mrs. Weasley icily. "Well, what time must you leave then? I'll contact everyone and see if they can bump up their schedule to make you happy."

"Six-thirty."

"Very well, then." She turned her back on Ginny and sent her hen Patronus out the back door. After doing that she walked over to the fireplace, threw in some Floo powder, and told Fleur that the dinner would be starting precisely at five not six as originally planned. Ginny watched her mother do these things and start bustling around the kitchen without realizing that she still was holding Harry's picture tight against her chest, until Remus spoke.

"Careful there, you'll break the glass. How are getting on, Ginny?" asked Remus, as he walked down the stairs. His words were soft spoken and they seemed to be filled with genuine concern.

"I've been better, and yourself?" She looked down at the picture again before placing it in back onto the mantle. She looked at her father's again, and then moved over to another picture that was sitting to the far left.

"I am doing fine. You caught us by surprise, stopping by this early." As he spoke, the sounds of pots and pans banging together in the kitchen filled the house. "I don't think your mother was expecting to start cooking this soon."

"Well that's me, always causing trouble." The words faded as she looked closely at the picture. It was of Ron and Hermione's wedding. She was the Maid of Honor and Harry was the Best Man. The four of them stood there in the garden behind the Burrow, their faces shining with happiness and wine. It seemed so strange that in the middle of a war, when they where being hunted by murders, they were able to be so happy. Ginny heard Remus say something again, "Excuse me, I didn't hear…"

"I think Ron and Hermione are coming, and their friend is with them."

Ginny turned to look out the same window as Remus, and her blood froze in her veins. J.D. Jones was walking with them. He was still here. Ginny didn't even think about what she was doing, and she ignored Remus as she ran out the backdoor towards her brother and sister-in-law. They stopped walking when they saw her flying out of the house with her wand gripped tightly in her hand with Remus running behind her.

"Stay away from them, you bastard!" she screamed, as she pointed her wand at the American. "I'll kill you!"

Ron jumped in front of J.D. and Hermione had her wand pointed at Ginny, while Remus wrapped his arms around her and pull her wand arm down to her side.

"You're bloody mental, Ginny," yelled Ron. "J.D. is our friend. You're not going to threaten him in front of me."

"Ginny try to calm down. Why are you acting this way?" pleaded Hermione.

"He has been hired by Lucius Malfoy to kill you!" As soon as Ginny yelled this, everyone seemed to stop moving. Remus let go of her. Ron stopped yelling and Hermione pursed her lips and stared at her as if she was deranged.

"How do you know this Ginny?" questioned Hermione.

"I heard them discussing plans at a dinner two weeks ago."

"How did you hear them discuss it?" plied Hermione again.

Ginny could feel everyone looking closer at her. "I was at the dinner, with Draco."

"You went to a dinner with Draco that his father openly discussed having us killed?" Ginny looked at Hermione when she said this. It sounded ridiculous, but it was true. "That must have been some pleasant conversation over pudding," Hermione added sardonically. "Why did you wait until now to tell us?"

"It wasn't at the table, Hermione," Ginny spat venomously. "They went to another room. I overheard them discussing his fee. He said that Lucius had to come up with four million Galleons in four days, or he was going back to America. Isn't that right, Mr. Jones?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't know who you are, darlin'. Except what Ron has told me about ya," said J.D. calmly.

"LIAR!"

"Ginevra! J. D. is a guest in this house. I will not have you speaking to him that way," demanded Mrs. Weasley. She had come out of the kitchen to see why Ginny was acting so strangely.

"Mum, he's …"

"I heard what you said. That Lucius has hired him to kill us."

"Yes!"

"For four million Galleons."

"Yes!"

"Well he must think we are very important to pay such a high price," quipped her mum. Ron, Hermione, and even Remus chuckled at the comment. "And you are telling us now, and still tonight you are planning to go out with Draco," said Mrs. Weasley with contempt in her voice.

Ginny felt like someone had pulled a rug out from under her feet. The realization of her going out with Draco, while his father plotted the death of her entire family looked bad, but it wasn't that way. "No, it isn't like that," she pleaded with her family.

"Tell us then, how it is?" stated her mother.

"I am trying to discover how they are involved. I need them to trust me," she pleaded with them.

"Is that why you are fighting with us? I thought that you just preferred the Malfoys company over ours, now that you are like them," snapped Hermione.

"What do you mean by that? I am sick of you chatising me because Harry left me all his money. It is not my fault."

"No it isn't your fault, but your attitude is. I am tired of having my head bit off everytime I talk to you, and of you putting your own family last and never speaking to us. You're not the Ginny that had been my best friend for years," stated Hermione, who now had tears in her eyes.

Ginny looked at her and the rest of her family. They all were looking at her like she was some indignant child. She was not wrong. They just refused to understand.

"Ginny, dear, please cancel your plans for tonight. Spend your birthday with your family," pleaded her mother.

Ginny thought about her mothers offer, but she couldn't destroy everything that she had built with the Malfoys now, when she was getting closer to finding the truth. "I'm sorry, Mum, but I need to go." She looked at her family gathered around her and noticed that J.D. had walked away from them. "I don't trust that ruddy American. I know what I heard and saw. Please, be careful, whether you believe it or not, I do care about you." She didn't give her family time to respond. She turned on her heels and walked away without lookin back.

[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]

Ginny placed the last bite of cheesecake in her mouth and chewed it slowly. She looked over and at Draco to see him smile warmly at her. He had taken her to this lovely restaurant for her birthday. The evening had been rather pleasant, without any conversation about her family or the mysterious American.

"Would you like more wine?" asked Draco, lifting the bottle.

"No, I actually prefer coffee with something this sweet," she replied. "Thank you for the lovely birthday dinner, Draco." Ginny smiled with genuine affection at him. His kindness and courtesy made her forget about her earlier tribulations with her family. He was actually being sweet to her today. It was something that she was never sure if the gracious or the arrogant and sullen Draco would show up.

"I heard at the Ministry that you wanted to help the scrubbers pay their taxes," said Draco with a bit of arrogance in his voice.

His sudden change in dinner conversation caught her unaware, and him referring to the poorer people as scrubbers irritated her. "Yes, I did!" she replied with force. "It is unfair that bloody new tax."

"I think it is quite fair. Why should we pay for the services that those people use? Make them pay their fair share."

"If you want equality in payment then maybe they should have equality in representation."

"What do you mean by that?"

"If they are paying equally for their services than the people who make less than twenty thousand galleons a year should have equal representation on the Wizengamot to their percentage of population. I have noticed that the Wizengamot has only allowed the wealthy to sit in its chambers." Draco's attitude change had irritated her. He had told her many times in the past that she should reconsider how she perceived herself, now that she is one of the wealthiest people in England. She still acted as though she was poor with the way she spent her money, and her philanthropic ventures seemed to irritate him.

"Have them serve on the Wizengamot? That would be a joke, they are not qualified," responded Draco with a laugh at the thought that anyone who was poor could possible be smart and wise.

Ginny felt her face getting red with anger. She never thought that having money was a sign of intelligence. She always thought her father was an intelligent person, even though he was never wealthy. "I don't want to discuss this topic anymore. Not today," she said with a sigh. She had enough controversy for one day.

"I am sorry, dear," replied Draco softly, as he reached across the table and gently grasped her hand. "I wanted you to enjoy your birthday, not spend it talking politics." He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "Now are you ready for your birthday surprise?"

"You mean this lovely dinner wasn't it?"

"No, not at all," chuckled Draco. "You could go out and buy this yourself. What I had in mind only I can give to you," he said in a rather roguish voice.

"This sounds exciting."

"Oh, I can guarantee it will be" They stood up from the table and walked out of the restaurant after paying the bill and leaving a tip. Draco had not always done that before, but Ginny had always insisted that they tip the server. They walked out of the Muggle establishment and down the street to an alley where they could Apparate.

"Where are we going?"

"If I told you it wouldn't be a surprise. Would it?" he responded nervously. "Now close your eyes and wait until I tell you to open them."

Ginny gripped his arm and felt the familiar squeeze of Apparation. When the pressure disappeared, she could tell she was somewhere in the countryside away from the city. The breeze was rustling leaves and bathing her in a sweet smell of flowers, grass, and moss. They must be somewhere near woods, because all these scents reminded her of the Burrow when she would spend summer days exploring the woods by herself. She felt Draco release her, and she started opening her eyes.

"Incarcerous!" someone shouted.

Ginny opened her eyes and saw it was Lucius Malfoy, as magically produced ropes wrapped around her from shoulder to knees. She teetered for a second, as she tried to maintain her balance, before someone shoved her in the back. She fell forward and landed face down on the ground. Even though she had turned her head, the grass and dirt still filled her mouth and nose making her choke as she breathed. Feet were moving all around her, and she could hear familiar voices. As she lay there, she wasn't filled with fear of her predicament, but anger. She did not fear pain or death anymore. She had overcome that fear fighting alongside Harry against Voldemort.

As she was trying to figure out what was going on around her, and why they had left her laying here, someone kicked her in the ribs hard enough to roll her over on her back. If her arm hadn't been tied to her side, her ribs would have been broken, but the force of the kick still sent a shockwave of pain through her body and knocked the wind out of her. She now laid on her back staring at the darkened trees and the starry skies beyond them, when Lucius stepped into her view.

"Happy Birthday, Miss Weasley," said Lucius with his usual contemptuous drawl. Several people laughed at his sardonic humor. "I bet you are wondering why we have invited you here today. Let me answer that for you. You have something that should belong to us. The Black inheritance should have never gone to your former fiancé, but to the rightful members of the Black family."

"It did, and Sirius left it for Har…." Ginny's retort was silenced as a gag appeared across her mouth.

" _Crucio!"_ shouted Lucius. Pain shot through her body making her shake and scream into her gag, but it suddenly stopped.

"Father, is this necessary," pleaded Draco.

There was a prolonged silence, as Ginny watched Lucius stare up at his son, who was out of Ginny's sightline.

"Yes, it is necessary," hissed Lucius at his son. "You know what is at stake here. Do you want to retain your status as a Malfoy, and all that goes with that?" Lucius stopped talking and waited a few seconds before continuing. "Then this is most necessary, son."

He pointed his wand at Ginny and again yelled, _"Crucio!"_

Ginny was twisting on the ground trying to not let the pain break her. Lucius suddenly lifted the curse, and leaned down to look her directly in the face. The gag disappeared with a swipe of his wand.

"If you don't want to feel pain again then it would be wise to agree to sign over all of your wealth to us the rightful heirs to the Most Noble House of Black."

"Piss off!" As soon as, Ginny said this, the gag magically appeared wrapping her mouth so tight she couldn't open or breathe from it. The pain of the Cruciatus curse started again. She tried to writhe and twist against the ropes, but they only dug into her skin making the pain even more intense. She was screaming, but the gag kept the noise from escaping from her mouth.

After the pain stopped she lay there, trying to breathe through her nose, but it didn't allow enough air to satisfy her lungs needs. The gag disappeared and she started to pant. Lucius once again leaned into view. "Well are you going to sign, or will we have to further persuade you?"

Ginny lay there panting for several seconds before speaking, "I will not sign. You can torture me. You can kill me, but you will never get your hands on that gold." She felt ropes tighten around her ankles and pulling her up suddenly until she was hanging upside down looking at Lucius, Draco, and several other wizards. Draco stepped in front of her his eyes looked conflicted, but with a wave of his wand the gag reappeared on her mouth.

"You will sign this tonight, my dear Ginerva" said Lucius mockingly. "Now, you will sign these papers giving all your gold to my family." He stepped closer to her, "did you think all that gold made you equal with us. You are nothing but a scrubber, just like your entire family. Crucio!"

Ginny twisted and turned against the ropes as she was being tortured. She could barely think because the combination of the curse, the rope, gag, and being hung upside down clouded her mind. Even through all this pain, she still knew that in the end she would end up dead. Even if she signed the papers, they would have to kill her to keep her silent. The torture stopped, but the gag was still in place. She could barely breathe. She had bit her tongue and the blood and saliva was running into her nose making breathing nearly impossible.

Suddenly the pain was back, it seemed to be worse this time. She had never been tortured like this before. Everyone had always made sure that she was protected. Voldemort and his cronies never captured her, but people who had been through this had told her that the pain increases as your ability to resist the curse weakens. The pain again stopped, and she felt herself falling. She still had the presence of mind to twist and land on her side and not her head. She felt almost every joint in her body twist from the impact, and a couple of ribs snapped. She felt herself getting sick and started to vomit. As she wretched, the gag was removed. This wasn't a sign of kindness, but it was to ensure that she did not choke and die too soon.

The vomit was magically removed, but they didn't clean her up, as the side of her face was smeared with blood, dirt, and now vomit. A large piece of parchment and quill were placed in front of her. "Sign this!" ordered Draco. _"Imperio"_

Ginny felt free of pain, as the ropes disappeared. She felt fine and it seemed like the most logical thing to do in the world was simply sign this piece of parchment. She picked up the quill, sat up, and started to move her hand towards the line to sign it, when another section of her brain screamed at her. Her hand shook as she fought with herself. One part of her told her to sign the document and everything will be good again. The other section told her that it would be stupid to do so and she shouldn't give these people anything. Finally, she threw the quill away and reached for her wand. She had her hand on it, before a boot collided with the small of her back sending her forward onto the ground. She felt her wand fly out of her robes, before the ropes bound her again.

"My, my, Draco, she is more durable than she appears," stated Lucius. "No matter, she will sign this piece of parchment one way or another. Bring her, everyone is in place."

Ginny felt someone grab her hair and drag her along the ground. Several times she thought that her scalp was going to tear lose from her head, when her clothes would catch on a root or rock. They finally let her drop and she felt her ankles being bound and lifting her upside down again. Someone walked over to her and turned her as she hung, until she could see the view he wanted.

She was on a hill overlooking the Burrow. They had hired that bloody American to kill her family. She hung there numb from the pain of the torture and the fact that her family was sitting in their home while it was being surrounded by murders. Tears started to drip from her eyes and run down her forehead and into her hair.

"Ah, she is so sad," mocked Lucius, while others laughed behind him. "You have finally figured out what we hired Mr. Jones for, haven't you." He stopped talking, walked in front of her, and stood with his back to the Burrow. "Right now, the remaining members of the Order of the Phoenix are meeting down there. They are talking to Mr. Jones, about what they think are ways to fight against this nameless faceless evil overtaking the land." He stopped and chuckled at situation. "Unwittingly, they are trapped by the person that they now trust will help them in their fight. Rather ironic, don't you think? But, you could stop the massacre. All you need to do is sign over control of your vaults to my family. If you don't than I will send red sparks into the air and your family and friends shall all die. Don't think they will stand a chance against Mr. Jones. Do you know what he did in Mexico? He hunted down and killed forty wizards. The Mexican authorities want him dead, because the last four he killed while they were being held in a high security prison. Do you think your friends even stand a chance of surviving? Sign it! Now!" Lucius held his wand into the air.

Tears poured out of her eyes, as she thought about their predicament. If she didn't sign the parchment then her whole family would die. They are surrounded and have a murderous traitor with them. If she signs it, then she will die, but her family might survive. They might die anyway. If they did then all her gold would go to Narcissa or Bellatrix. Andromeda is most likely at the Order meeting. The only possibility of saving her family is to sign over the gold. She went to talk, but the gag prevented her from forming words. Draco waved his wand, and the gag disappeared. "I'll sign," squeeked Ginny, before she started coughing uncontrollably. Her voice was strained from the torture and tight from her emotional state.

The ropes holding her up disappeared, letting her drop to the ground. The jarring hit made white lights dance in front of her eyes. All of her bindings were vanished and the parchment was shoved in her hands with a quill. She touched the quill to the appropriate line and signed her official name, Ginevra Molly Weasley Potter. The parchment was pulled from her grasp and she collapsed onto the ground and waited for her death.

"What's the meaning of this!" screamed Lucius.

"I – I signed it," said Ginny.

"The document can't be magically registered; it must be taken to Gringotts and registered there. Very Well!" He shot red sparks into the air.

"No! I signed it. I did what you wanted. Please spare my family," pleaded Ginny.

She pushed herself up to a sitting position. The assault on the Burrow had started. Curses were being shot at the wards from all directions, as attackers closed in on her home. The wards quickly collapsed and then she saw her family run from the house, with the members of the Order. Curses and Hexes were being exchanged all around the Burrow. It appeared that the Order was up to the fight. She almost thought that they might actually prevail. Until the entire valley went black, it was the same blackness that engulfed Lucius' study. J.D. Jones had entered the fight.

"Did you think that your brave Gryffindor family stood a chance against the cunning of a Slytherin?" laughed Lucius. "They were going to die whether you signed this or not. I just wanted to have a little fun with you. That's all," he said.

Ginny couldn't even pick herself up off the ground to fight back. She had failed everyone. She had been deceived, used, and the worst thing was she now had to sit here and listen to her family die. Screams kept floating up the valley out of the darkness, accompanied with voices as wizard and witches cast curses at each other. How long the torturous battle went on, she couldn't tell. It seemed like an eternity, but it was probably a few minutes. Finally, all the noise stopped, the only thing she could hear was her own sobbing as she sat there on the ground supporting herself with her one arm.

"Oh look!" said Lucius joyously. "That's a sight I've wanted to see for a long time."

Ginny looked up. The darkness had been lifted from the valley. The Burrow was burning and large pieces of it had been blown away. As she looked around the garden, she could see redheads lying on the ground motionless. Tears flooded her eyes making it impossible for her to see. She didn't care to live now please let them kill her.

"What are you doing here?" asked a shocked Lucius. Ginny looked up, wiped her eyes, and saw the American standing with her childhood home burning behind him.

"Just came to tell y'all that the mission was successful," he said with absolutely no emotion.

"Well actually, it isn't, there is still one left," replied Lucius. He gestured to Ginny lying on the ground. "If you would please complete the mission," he said with a smug tone.

Ginny sat herself up as straight as possible. She wasn't going to cower in the face of death. She stared at her assassin as he stood there with his wand in his right hand and his cane in the left. He slowly lifted his wand and pointed it at her.


End file.
